Morphers
by Jedi Master Misty Sman-Esay
Summary: A different take on the Animorph Series. Pretty AU
1. Part 1

This is my first attempt to write in the Animorphs Verse so be thoughtful because once upon a time it was your first time as well.

This is going to be massively AU. One of the differences is that there isn't a limit to how long you can be in morph, but at the two hour mark you start feeling the urge to demorph and the longer you stay in morph after two hours the stronger the urge becomes. However, now and then there is a person that doesn't feel the urge to demorph.

Another difference is that Mr. Ellimist didn't take Elfangor back to his people. So Tobias is raised by both of his parents.

By now you all must be like who's going to give the Animorphs the ability to morph? My answer: wait and see.

Oh and another thing: I no longer have access to most of the Animorph Series. So most of this is going to be from memory and from what I have read in fan fics.

I am NOT going to do most of books, only the ones I either feel like doing or what not.

And I'm wasting your time with this talk.

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Hey, my name is Jake. I can't tell you my last name or else they will find us.

Who will find us you ask; well it will be easier for me to tell you how it all began.

It was a normal Friday evening at the mall. My best friends Marco and Tobias were playing in an arcade; Tobias was kicking our butts when he yelped and clutched his head.

Marco and I glanced at Tobias with some concern. Tobias wasn't exactly normal and by that I mean that sometimes he gets claustrophobic in either crowds or tight spaces and sometimes I swear that I hear him say things when he couldn't have.

"Are you alright?" I finally asked him. "I thought I heard screams." Tobias whispered. Marco and I looked at each other. This was the first time that we had seen this happen to Tobias and I was wondering if we should take him home just in case something was wrong with him.

Tobias had passed out once at a party my Mom had thrown for Tom, my older brother, and I. A lot of our friends had been invited along with their parents when Tobias started looking around, as if he sensed something wrong and then he passed out.

It took awhile for him to come around but his mother took him home once he could walk.

"Maybe we should go home." I said, not wanting to face his mother's wrath if something was wrong.

Tobias looked as if he was going to protest but he nodded and we left the arcade.

We were nearly to one of exits when I saw one of my cousins, Rachel, and her friend Cassie. Tobias must have seen them too because he walked over to them.

I nearly froze. I like Cassie but I never know what to say around her. I know for a fact that Tobias likes Rachel: he has gotten caught passing notes to her in class on more than one occasion.

Finally Rachel and Cassie walked over.

"Want to walk part of the way home with us?" I blurted out.

Cassie smiled shyly while Rachel rolled her eyes. "Sure we are defenseless girls so we need big strong _men_ to protect us." She said sarcastically.

Marco laughed and Tobias shook his head.

"Yes, we'll walk part of the way with you." Cassie said.

We left the mall and walked across the street. We walked a short distance before we reached a crossroads of a type. You see we could either continue along the road or we could take a short cut through an abandoned construction site. It could be dangerous but youth has a way of not thinking about how dangerous something is only how exciting it would be.

Without really thinking we stepped into the construction site and started through it.

I found myself remembering the time that Marco, Tobias and I climbed a crane, daring each other to climb higher.

I'm not sure how deep we were into the site but suddenly Tobias gasped. We turned to look at him only to find his gaze fixed on the sky on an object that was getting closer.

We stopped walking and watched as it came closer and closer. A strange sensation filled me and my head felt weird. I turned and looked at everyone else in the group and saw that everyone's hair was standing out in all sorts of directions. Rachel's hair would have been funny looking if Tobias hadn't opened his mouth.

"It's some sort of ship!" Tobias said, excitement in his voice.

We watched as the ship came closer and closer until it landed not to far away from us. The strange feeling stopped and I noticed that Rachel's hair was no longer standing end to end.

It was a strange looking ship. Kind of oval shaped with thing that came up from the back and curved like a tail.

Tobias hurried forward, unafraid.

"Come out, we won't hurt you." He called out. /I know./ A voice said in my mind. I was spooked and glanced around. I wasn't the only one either. Marco's eyes were wide and the girl's looked nervous.

/Don't be afraid./ The voice said again and a hatch opened.

At first we couldn't see much because of a light that was coming from inside of the ship but the figure appeared to be humanoid; until it stepped out of the ship.

It looked like a centaur with no nose, mouth or hair. Instead of hair there were a second set of eyes on a pair of stalks on the top of the head. For a nose there were three slits and instead of a horse's tail was a powerful looking tail that ended with a sharp looking blade. Did I mention that it was blue?

We stared at each other for a few moments in complete silence.

"Cool!" Tobias breathed, breaking the silence.

/Do you wish to save your planet from domination?/ The alien asked us. "What?" We asked, confused. /Your planet is being invaded by an alien race called the Yeerks./

We were all silent for a few seconds. It blew my mind that aliens were invading Earth. My first reaction was to laugh but the way he had said it told me that he was dead serious.

"What is a Yeerk?" Tobias asked. An image appeared in my head of something that resembled a slug but at the same time bore no resemblance to one.

"And why should we be afraid of something that we can crush under our feet?" Rachel asked slowly. /They take over your mind and body. That's how they control you./ The alien explained. /There is little to no way to tell if someone is a Controller./

"What makes you so sure that we aren't Controllers?" Cassie asked. The alien smiled with his eyes. /If you were Controllers you would have found someway to alert your superiors that I was here./

His logic seemed sound.

/Besides, you would have done something by now if you were./ He continued.

/My name is Arbron-Bantec-Deromar. I am a war prince among my people./ He introduced himself.

"Um, my name is Jake." I said slowly. Everyone introduced themselves much the same way I did while Tobias chirped out his name the same way he would announce he got an A+ on a test.

/Now, do you wish to defend your planet from the yeerks?/ Arbron asked. "Aren't your people defending us?" Marco asked. Arbron shook his head. /We came with only one ship and we weren't prepared for the forces waiting for us. I saw the Dome Ship burn just before I entered the atmosphere./ Sorrow and pain was evident in his 'voice'.

"So you are the only survivor?" Tobias asked. /There might have been other survivors but I might be the only one./ Arbron replied.

We looked at each other. "How would we fight the yeerks?" Rachel asked.

Arbron disappeared back into his ship and reappeared a few seconds later with a small blue box.

/Place your hands on it. It will grant you the ability to morph./ Arbron gently ordered. Slowly we reached out and touched the box. A tingling sensation moved up my arm and then dissipated.

For some reason I looked up and promptly froze. There were lights in the sky and they were getting closer.

Arbron seemed to notice this too. /Yeerks!/ he spat. /We must get away from here./

We scurried away from the ship and dove behind a wall. Arbron began to change and soon a young man dressed for biking took his place.

"It is better this way for me." He said calmly. "If we have to escape then they will not know that I am with you." Arbron said slowly and carefully. "We have been preparing to have to hide on Earth for a long time. Skin tight clothes are the best to wear during morphing." He explained.

"So how long can we stay in morph?" Tobias asked, curious. "About ninety-eight percent of my people feel the need to demorph after about two hours in morph. However the other two percent feel little to no need to demorph. I am one of the latter and I knew another Andalite who also fell in that category." Arbron explained, sorrow evident in his voice.

Soon three ships landed in the construction site. Two of them were same, fighters perhaps. The last one though was much bigger.

The fighters were shaped like bugs and the bigger ship looked like a battle ax.

"Bug Fighters and a blade ship." Arbron whispered. We nodded in understanding. "Soon we must be as quiet as possible. Hork-Bajir have excellent hearing."

We nodded again to show that we understood and went back to watching the ships.

Finally a door opened in the Blade Ship and two types of aliens came out. The first type reminded me of worms only they were on lots of tiny legs and had lots of claw like hands. The second type of alien was tall with a serpent's neck and lots of sharp blades on their arms, legs and a couple on their head.

The aliens surrounded Arbron's fighter and turned back to the Blade Ship, as if they were waiting for someone or something. Then an Andalite came out. My eyes widened. I couldn't understand if Andalites were fighting the Yeerks then how come a Yeerk was controlling an Andalite?

I turned to Arbron and saw a mixture of pity and revulsion on his human face.

"I am going to create a distraction. We I do I want you all to run as fast and as far as you can. We will meet again on the beach by the ocean." Arbron whispered.

We nodded once again. At least I was wondering how he was going to do that. Then he closed his eyes and his ship opened fire on one of the Bug Fighters.

"Now!" He whispered.

We stood and ran as if some horrible demon was chasing us.

I never looked back or slowed down until I was on my street and only then did I slow down. I walked as calmly as possible to my room and collapsed onto my bed.

I stared at the ceiling for several seconds before sleep over took me.

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Well, what do you guys think?


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks to some gentle prodding I have gotten this chapter ready. It did help that I was bribed with a chocolate chip muffin, my favorite.

The Animorphs will not be taking a trip to the Yeerk Pool any time soon since Arbron is going to say that it's too dangerous and what not.

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I woke up the next morning wondering if last night was all a dream.

I could hear the phone ringing but I really didn't care.

"Jake?" My Mom's voice called from downstairs. "What?" I called back. "Phone," she responded.

Curious as to who was calling so early on a Saturday I made my way downstairs and into the living room.

I took the phone from my Mom and sat down on the couch. "Hello?" I asked slowly, I was still a little sleepy.

"Is that you Jake?" Tobias's voice asked. "Who else would it be?" I asked, blinking sleep out of my eyes.

"I don't know, perhaps Data?" he answered.

"What do you want?" I asked. "I miss placed some of my math homework. Could you come over and bring yours so that I can get it done so my parents don't blow a gasket?" Tobias said.

I nearly frowned, Tobias never miss places anything unless it's on purpose.

"I'll be over in a few minutes." I said.

I quickly ate breakfast, dressed in clean clothes, grabbed my math homework and hurried for my bike.

I could have walked to Tobias's house but if it was something important then it was best to hurry.

Once I arrived I parked my bike on the front lawn since I had no idea what schedule his dad was working and I didn't want my bike to get run over.

I pressed the doorbell and Tobias's mom answered a few moments later. She looked tired but then who wouldn't be tired with a child a few years younger than me who can have meltdowns if supper isn't ready around a certain time or if something else happens that is beyond normal control.

Or it could be that one of Tobias's younger siblings was sick or something. He has one or two more than Rachel and she has two younger siblings. It really boggles my mind that there are people that have that many kids. But then as my Dad says as long as they can afford to take care of them and are than that's good enough for him.

"Hi Jake," Tobias's mom says pleasantly. "If you're looking for Tobias he's in his room."

I thanked her and headed for the stairs.

I paused as I passed by Tobias's father's study. He was at his computer wearing headphones and a look of horror on his face.

"Is there something wrong?" I asked. He jumped so high that you would have thought I had yelled into his ear while he was sleeping.

His head jerked in my direction and he seemed to very relieved. "Just some random chatter." He answered, his voice shook a bit.

"Sorry that I bothered you." I said and continued on to Tobias's Room.

Tobias was sitting on his bed, nearly bouncing on it with excitement. "Close the door.' He whispered.

I closed the door.

I had never seen someone so excited about the prospect of doing homework. Unless last night hadn't been a dream.

"I can change into Captain Picard!" He nearly whispered. At first I was confused until I remembered that Captain Picard was the name of Tobias's cat as well.

I stood there for a few moments stunned before I could speak again. "That's . . . cool, I guess." I muttered.

If he could turn into Captain Picard then either he had taken leave of his senses or last night really happened.

"I can show you." He said, excitement in his voice. I only nodded and before my eyes Tobias changed. He grew fur, a tail and his ears moved to the top of his head. Then he got smaller. Soon I was staring at Captain Picard.

/This is so cool!/ Tobias's voice said in my head. /You should try it sometime./ I just nodded, too overwhelmed to say anything.

I watched Tobias change back, totally weirded out.

A noise out in the hall had my eyes glued to the door. It sounded like someone was upset about something.

"Leilani," Tobias said as if that explained everything. "Mom and Dad said that we weren't going out to the park like we usually do on Saturdays and she's having a hard time adjusting to the change in her schedule."

I nodded even though I didn't completely understand. Tobias's younger sister, Leilani, has Asperger Syndrome so I know that some things bug her more than the average person. Once I thought that she was going to kill me for cracking my knuckles.

"Is your dad into CB Radio?" I asked, in an effort to change the subject. Tobias shrugged. "I honestly don't know. As far as I know he could be listening to aliens."

The thought that Tobias's father could be listening to aliens wasn't very comforting. He could be a Controller as far as we knew.

"We should call everyone else and go to the beach. See if we can find Arbron." Tobias commented. I nodded. If we were the only defense on Earth against the Yeerks then we needed to know as much as we could about them.

I waited for Tobias to call Marco and Rachel, telling both of them to meet us at the beach and for Rachel to call Cassie and tell her the same thing.

Then we got on our bikes and rode to the beach.

We didn't have to wait long for the others to show up. Once we were all there we walked to a secluded part of the beach.

"Last night wasn't a dream was it." Marco stated. Tobias and I shook our heads. "So what are we doing here then?" Rachel asked. "He told us to meet him on the beach by the ocean so here we are." I explained.

/I am so glad that you all escaped unharmed./ Arbron's voice said in my head. The others and I jerked and turned to see a dog watching us.

"Arbron?" Tobias asked slowly but excitedly. The dog's tail whipped back and forth. /Yes, it's me./

The dog, Arbron, replied.

Arbron as the dog trotted up to us.

/I will teach you all that you need to know so that we can fight the Yeerks effectively./ Arbron said as he sat in the middle of our little group.

We sat there for about an hour just listening to him tell us what we needed to know about the Yeerks.

/We came here to investigate and possibly fight any Yeerks that were here and then report back to High Command. However the Yeerks were ready for us. They attacked us shortly after we came out of Zero Space. We fought but it wasn't enough./ Arbron explained, pain in his voice.

/For reasons I am still unsure of I scanned Earth for Andalite technology and found traces of it in the area. So I piloted my ship for this area and landed where I landed./

"Why did you come?" Cassie asked. /A friend of mine disappeared with a human girl and boy years ago. I was hoping that I could learn his fate. If the Yeerks had captured him or if they had killed him or if he had escaped./ Arbron explained, pain in his 'voice'.

"I'm sorry," Tobias said.

/It's not your fault that I can't find my friend./ Arbron told Tobias. /However I found one of them. Hedrick Chapman./ Arbron said with a hint of pride. "Our vice principal?" Marco asked. /He's also the one who sold you all to the Yeerks./ Arbron informed us with disgust.

Marco snorted. "Should have known that he was evil." He commented.

We were silent for a while. Just thinking about what he had told us.

Finally Arbron spoke again. /You all should head back to your families. We will need to meet again and I will walk you through your first morph, unless you have already tried it out./ "My barn," Cassie spoke, 'my Dad rehabilitates animals so we have all sorts of animals and they would be perfect to morph into."

/Then I will follow you home./ Arbron stated.

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We went our separate ways, Rachel went to the Mall, Cassie and Arbron went to her house and Marco, Tobias and I went to my house to play video games.

Marco was kicking our butts as usual when my older brother Tom came into the room. "Hey Midget." He said playfully. "Moron," I shot back just as playfully.

"Did you hear about what happened at the abandoned construction site last night?" Tom asked. "Yeah, some kids set off some fire crackers or something like that." Tobias replied. Tom nodded. "Some people claim that aliens landed there. Little green men from Mars." Tom said in a joking tone.

I felt like saying that they weren't little or green. But I kept my mouth shut. I didn't want to have to answer any awkward questions.

"You mean Alpha Centauri." Tobias said flatly. "What?" Tom asked. "Captain Kirk joked that he was a little green man from Alpha Centauri in Star Trek The Original Series." Tobias said, a grin plastered on his face now.

After a moment a smile came to Tom's face. "Good one Einstein." He said.

"Well I've got to be going. Hot date." Tom said and left.

We heard the front door close Tobias stood and closed the door.

After a few moments both Marco and Tobias looked at me. I didn't like the look they were giving me.

"Jake, he's one of them." Marco finally said.

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A cliffy! Ooh!

Next time Jake's reaction to Marco's claim.

I purposely gave Tobias more siblings and made one an Aspie. I myself am one along with one of my younger brothers and felt that I could write it the best. I have flipped out at people when they annoy me. Just ask my youngest sibling, I flipped out at her because she was stacking cups into pyramids then collapsing them and then rebuilding them while she should have been doing school work.

Am I going to fast?

Review and you get virtual cookies.


	3. Chapter 3

Here we go! Jake's reaction to the news.

For those of you that have reviewed you get virtual cookies. Since I don't know your favorite m=let me know so that I can send you a picture of them.

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I swung my fist at Marco, but I was so upset that I missed.

"No he's not!" I snapped.

"He wouldn't have brought up the construction site if he wasn't on a fishing expedition." Tobias told me.

"Besides he goes to The Sharing which is the same place that Mr. Chapman goes to. And Arbron said that Chapman was the one who told the Yeerks about us." Marco said. "It stands to reason that he's one of them if not a high ranking one."

I just sat there. I couldn't believe that good time loving Tom was one of the enemy. Not one of the enemy, I corrected myself: Innocent until proven guilty.

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Supper was an interesting affair. I tried not to think about the possibility that Tom was one of the enemy but it kept coming back. What would I do if Marco and Tobias were right?

"Midget," Tom suddenly said. "I looked up from my plate. "The Sharing is having a meeting tomorrow night and I wanted to know if you want to go." Tom said. "Sure, I'll go." I said, this would be a great opportunity to prove Marco and Tobias wrong.

Tom smiled, but there was something wrong with it.

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The next day I went to Cassie's house with Marco and Tobias. Marco wouldn't shut up about how he had completely kicked our butts yesterday in video games.

Finally we reached Cassie's place and entered the barn. Rachel, Cassie and Arbron were already waiting for us.

Rachel was admiring a bald eagle in one of the cages, Cassie was cleaning a cage and a young man that I guessed was Arbron was in a human morph that appeared to be about our age.

The young man turned as we came in and smiled.

"Hi," he said pleasantly.

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For the next two hours we learned how to fly. It was lots of fun and we all had some good laughs.

/We need to rest for awhile./ Arbron announced. We landed and morphed back into ourselves.

/Now, we need to learn where the Controllers meet./ Arbron said. "I think that we should check out The Sharing.' Marco said. "Mr. Chapman is part of it and if it is a Yeerk front then we will learn who's a Yeerk. And if it isn't then we know to look elsewhere."

Arbron nodded. /A wonderful idea./ He stated. "They're having a meeting on the beach tonight." I told everyone. "Tom even invited me to it."

Everyone looked at each other.

"Why don't we all go?" Cassie suggested. Tobias shrugged. "My parents might have decided to do something as a family and if I don't come then Leilani might have one of her meltdowns." He explained.

Even though I didn't understand I still nodded my head. We have to put up a normal front.

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A few hours later I went to the meeting with Tom.

I talked to some kids at school and then hung out Tom, until he said something about having a member's only meeting.

I said that it was okay and that I would find others to hang out with until he got back.

Once he was gone I walking into the woods a short distance and morphed into Homer, my dog. Once I was done I trotted down the beach towards the area where Tom had gone.

A man that was sitting in a beach chair looked at me for a few seconds before turning his attention back on the beach.

/They are in that cluster of dunes up ahead./ Marco's voice said from the air. /Thanks,/ I sent back.

I closed in on the dunes and stopped to listen to see if I could hear any voices. I could, faintly. They were saying something about Visser Three wanting the missing Andalite found and quickly.

I crept closer, this time I could make out the voice of my school's vice principal: Chapman. "We still need to find out who those kids were in the construction site that night." He snapped. "Does anyone have any ideas?" There was silence for a second or two. "I think my host's brother might have been there but I didn't really get an answer out of him." A very familiar voice said.

"I doubt that your host's brother wouldn't be open with you." Chapman nearly sneered. "After all you're his favorite brother's body."

"My host's is Jake's only brother." Tom voice said coolly.

I moved away. I couldn't bare to hear anymore.

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The next day after school we gathered in Cassie's Barn. We got out our homework, ready to pretend to be doing it if one of Cassie's Parents came in.

"Every three days Yeerks must return to the Yeerk Pool to feed, if they do not they will die." Arbron explained.

We nodded and listened to the rest of the lesson. We learned about the structure of the Yeerk Empire and how they usually acted, about the races that they enslaved and tidbits about them as a people.

It was interesting. Cassie was sitting on the edge of a bale of hay, her eyes wide with curiosity.

"Couldn't we raid the Yeerk Pool?" I asked, hoping for the chance to free my brother. Arbron turned and regarded me with his two human eyes. "We could but it would verge on suicide. However, if we are to fight the Yeerks then we will need morphs in which to fight them." He said, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"We could go to the Gardens." Cassie said. "We have all sorts of animals there from all over the world. I've got a pass because my Mom works there. We can even go behind the scenes and everything." Her voice climbed with excitement.

Arbron nodded.

"Let's go then." He said.

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In the end I acquired a Siberian Tiger, Rachel acquired a Grizzly Bear and an African Elephant, Marco acquired a Gorilla, Tobias acquired an Mountain Lion and Cassie said that she had acquired a wolf that was at the WHC.

After we were done we headed into the woods behind Cassie's place and experimented with our morphs. Arbron said that it was vital that we know how to control the mind of our battle morphs. Andalites had blown their cover before losing control of their morphs and then regaining control.

It was a sobering thought that our cover could be blown by doing that.

He also said that we needed to act as much as possible like the animal we were pretending to be if it was a bird, cat or dog. Because if we were spying that could alert the Yeerks that we weren't any normal animal.

"What alerted you that the Yeerks might be invading Earth?" Marco asked. "There were reported sightings of several Human Controllers but the fact that Visser One has a Human host has been confirmed and that she reached that rank for reasons our spies couldn't find." Arbron explained. "So the Galaxy Tree was sent to investigate and if the captain thought that it was wise send a group down and stay on Earth to watch for Yeerk Activity. I was selected for my control along with a few others for the task if it came it."

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Late that night I lay awake in bed. I vowed then and there to defend Earth and free my brother at all cost.

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The next one up will be The Message. It will be posted here since this isn't very long. It will be told from Cassie's point of view.

The next part should be up sometime on Monday.


	4. Part 2

The next book!

I decided to skip the second and third books since with the change in events they wouldn't have happened or happened differently.

So this is book four: The Message. Told from Cassie's point of view. The first snippet is told from Ax's point of view.

I was going to wait for the JC Forums to come back online but seeing that it's been nearly two months since they went down I felt that you guys here deserved something.

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_Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill _

We have been down here for many days. Our Dome Ship was destroyed by the Yeerks. We saw the Blade Ship of a Visser fire on it.

I was horrified and I could tell that Anjinnl-Kardon-Liuary was just as afraid as I was although she tries not to show it.

I try to be brave for the female Computer Technician but it was getting harder. The longer that we were under the ocean the harder it gets on us.

I remember wondering why we were taking her with us to Earth. War Prince Arbron-Bantec-Deromar, a family friend, told me that she was highly gifted with computers and that since odds were that some of us would be staying behind on Earth she would be a great asset.

I did feel bad for her. No other female companions and the older officers would whisper about her when she was around. It seemed that I wasn't allowed in on the secret. If there was one.

/Aximili, what if we are the only survivors?/ Anjinnl asked, she sounded worried. /I will send out a call for help and see what happens./ I told her. She seemed uneasy. /Only fellow Andalites will hear it./ I assured her.

/Well, why don't you start then./ She said. /After all you don't need the permission of a lowly female like me./ She commented.

Once again I felt bad for her. Back on the homeworld she was treated poorly for some reason. Her brother was a scientist since he wasn't allowed in the Military for some reason. Her mother was a virtual outcast and my parents talked privately about her and told me that she had enough problems so they better not catch me making her life hard.

I didn't know about her father since no one was willing to talk about him. Well that was a lie since I did ask once and was told that he was gone and not to bring it up again.

I guess that he must have been killed by the Yeerks and he died disgracefully.

Well I did as I was told and never asked again.

/If we are the only survivors we will need swimming morphs to get away./ Anjinnl commented. I bobbed my eyestalks in agreement. /Try and capture some of the bigger ones that isn't prey./ I told her.

Soon I was ready to begin calling for help.

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_Cassie_

I woke from a dream, confused. I had dreamed of the ocean and someone calling for help. He was saying something about they did not have a lot of time.

A headed downstairs and stared outside at our fields.

It was fairly early in the morning, the sun hadn't even started to rise. I turned the dream over and over in my head; trying to make sense of it. It was either a weird dream or someone was calling for help.

I wasn't sure which one I liked better.

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We were all at Rachel's house the next day. Jake had called and said that he had found an interesting thing on the news.

Arbron was in human morph and wearing a thoughtful expression.

"So Jake what did you find on the news?" Marco asked. "This," Jake said and pushed a videocassette into the VHS player.

A quick clip played. It showed a guy holding something metal in his hands. It wasn't very big but big enough to be part of something bigger. The camera zoomed in on some writing on the piece of metal. Then the camera showed a female anchor and then the clip ended.

"It's part of the Galaxy Tree!" Arbron breathed. "A part of the Dome to be more precise. I have been receiving calls for help from someone, but I thought that it might be a trap. But if Aximili followed my orders he would have been in the Dome with Anjinnl."

We turned to look at him.

"Who are Aximili and Anjinnl?" Tobias asked slowly, careful to pronounce the names that Arbron had said.

"Aximili is an aristh and Anjinnl is a computer technician. They were both sent to the Dome just before we exited Zero Space." Arbron said simply. "I said that I wanted both of them because I knew Aximili's brother and Anjinnl is talented with computers so I knew that she would be useful if some of us stayed on Earth."

Arbron stood and stared out the window. He was staring out of it when he stumbled and then I blacked out.

_/We're here! We don't have much time!/_ A voice cried in my head. Once again I was underwater and going deeper.

_/Hurry!/_ The voice said urgently.

I opened my eyes and saw Jake kneeling over me. "She's awake." He told someone out of my range of sight. "So is Arbron." Marco reported. "Tobias is coming around too." Rachel called out as well.

"What happened?" Jake asked urgently. "I was in the ocean and a voice was calling for help. They don't have a lot of time." I told them.

Arbron nodded. "It might still be a trap. But we can't ignore the possibility that it might not be." He commented.

"So what do we do?" Marco asked. "We find out as much as we can about this and make sure that it isn't a trap." Arbron commented.

We looked at each other guiltily. If we hadn't spied on Chapman twice we might have been able to spy on him again to see if this was the real deal. Arbron had been doing something else for those few days and had only ordered us not to go looking for the Yeerk Pool. We had decided to spy on Chapman and see if we could gather information and make Arbron proud.

Let's just say that it nearly backfired on us in the worst possible way: Rachel was caught and nearly handed over to the Yeerks before we rescued her. Arbron chew us out when he returned. We had tipped our hand to the Yeerks by alerting them that there were morph capable fighters on Earth. The only thing that was working in our favor was that the Yeerks believed that we were Andalites.

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That night we wandered the beach in different morphs. Jake and Rachel were dogs, Arbron was a human while Tobias, Marco and I were in the air as owls.

We were searching to see if we could find any other pieces of the Dome Ship. It was Marco's idea, if it wasn't a trick then the Yeerks would be out here looking as well.

Then I saw them: flashlights. Flying closer I saw a group of humans that all looked familiar. /Controllers./ I warned everyone else.

I couldn't quite make out what they were saying but they were saying something about Visser Three experiencing something and that there was an Andalite somewhere under the ocean, possibly more.

Excited I reported to the others what I was hearing. I saw Arbron nod his head and stare out at the ocean for a short time before walking towards land.

It was a good thing to since the Controllers saw the footprints of Arbron's human morph along with Rachel's dog morph paw prints. One of the Controllers broke away and followed them.

/Hey guys, don't demorph or anything. There's a Controller following you./ I told Rachel and Arbron.

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"We need a swimming morph that will be able to survive a long journey to the Dome." Arbron said as we met in my barn the next day. "We could use dolphins." I suggested slowly. "They are good swimmers and The Gardens has some. We could go at night and acquire them." I stated.

I had reservations about morphing into dolphins seeing that they are very intelligent but I didn't want to voice it out loud and get laughed at.

Arbron nodded his head slowly. "It is a good suggestion." He commented. "I just hope that we can find them before the Yeerks do."

xxxxxxx

That night we all flew to The Gardens. We landed near the dolphin tank and demorphed. It didn't take us long to acquire them.

I felt a little better after I asked the one that I acquired for permission.

Once we were done we quickly morphed into owls again and flew back to our homes.

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	5. Chapter 5

Rain, rain go away. Come again another day.

This one more chapter after this and then it's on to the third part which is book five.

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It took a few days to get started because of school and many of us didn't want to answer any awkward questions like why weren't we in school and everything.

Lucky for us there was a Teacher Workshop Day or something like that so we got Friday off. We all headed to the beach as inconspicuously as possible. Instead of meeting on the actual beach we met in the woods about a mile from the ocean next to a river.

We quickly stripped to our morphing outfits and hid our clothes in the bushes before walking into the river to morph; I fell into the water face first during the process.

Once we were all in morph we headed for the ocean. It wasn't hard to find out which way was to the ocean seeing that I could tell where the water was saltier.

I noticed that the dolphin was a fun loving and always wanted to play almost the second we got out into open water. I started a game of tag which we all joined in; it lasted some time before Tobias asked which direction we needed to head in.

I felt guilty for using up so much time in such a manner but Arbron said that it wasn't a big deal; everyone had fun every so often in morph and lost track of the time.

We swam for about twenty minutes before we could tell that there was trouble nearby. Curious we headed for it.

I got an image from my echolocation: a whale and sharks.

Before I could think the situation through I torpedoed towards the nearest shark. I quickly realized my mistake afterwords. I was now separated from my friends and surrounded by sharks.

Lucky for me my friends joined in as well. I could hear my friends whooping and screaming as we took on the sharks.

Finally the sharks fled. /That will teach you to not only pick on other animals but to fight with us!/ Rachel yelled after them.

/Where's Marco?/ Jake suddenly asked. I quickly looked around and discovered that Marco was indeed missing. Then I sent out some clicks and got back an image that froze my guts: Marco was seriously hurt.

We quickly swam over and after some gentle coaxing he demorphed and with the help of Jake and Tobias as humans he floated on his back

It was then that I got the impression from the whale that it-no- he had seen something stranger a few days ago. Something that didn't belong on the ocean floor and flashes of blue and purple, racing across and around the thing on the ocean floor.

/Where?/ I asked, curious. Then somehow I knew how to get there and how far away it was. I felt part of me sink inside. It was pretty far. The round trip would take more then a day. And there was no way that all of us could do that without making someone or more suspicious.

I talked to everyone else and we all decided that we needed to go home and think of a better plan since there was no way that Arbron should go alone to get these two young andalites a lone.

What if the Yeerks found him and killed him?

I relayed the information back to the others and Jake morphed back into a dolphin. Marco hesitated before morphing but he wasn't any worse for wear and then Tobias morphed back.

With that we swam back to the river where we had left our clothes and demorphed and Arbron morphed into a human.

With that we swam for the river, demorphed and headed home.

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We all knew that Marco was shaken. His mother had died a few years back, a boating accident, and they had never found the body. Marco's dad went off the deep end; he quit his job at some company or other and sits around most days and drinks.

Even though I haven't lost anyone I can still imagine how it must feel to loose a loved one. That is why I decided to go and speak to him.

Marco answered the door and slipped out without opening the door much.

I listened to him express concern about his dad if he was to disappear. "You don't have to come this time." I told him.

"I would feel bad." He said after a few moments of silence. He then stared at an empty, leaf filled pool below several floors down. "Besides I feel almost as if we owe it to these two. I mean they could help us so much if we can rescue them and then no one else would have to loose a loved one."

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The next day we met in the woods behind my house. I had several cages with seagulls in them. Seagulls would draw less attention then our birds of prey morph; for some reason Tobias thought that birds of prey were funny.

We acquired the seagulls and then I released them.

"The plan is to find a ship, a tanker hopefully or a non passenger ship as the least to take as close as possible to the Dome." Jake said. "That way we can demorph and rest a bit before we have to remorph."

Arbron nodded. /We will need time to rest between morphs so that we don't get worn out. Anjinnl doesn't have a lot of experience morphing so she will need to rest in between morphing./

With that we morphed into seagulls.

As we flew to the the beach everyone commented on food that was in dumpsters and that random people were holding. /A stuffed crust pizza!/ Tobias cried excitedly. /Doritos./ Marco said reverently. /Thai food!/ Rachel commented, sounding a little excited. /French Fries!/ Jake piped in. /A sandwich!/ I nearly shrieked.

Arbron just laughed at our excitement until he saw a Red Lobster with seafood in the dumpster.

We flew over the beach and continued to fly until not only we reached the shipping channel until we saw a tanker, thank God, going in the general direction of the Dome.

We landed and demorphed.

We waited for hours.

Tobias started telling stories about one of his sisters, Leilani to help pass the time. His first story was how she had learned how to change the settings on the family computer and learned how to work it better than maybe their father. The second one was about how she had tried to yank their younger sister, Hoshi, out of a baby/toddler swing.

"She was shrieking and what not. Leilani grabbed Hoshi by her feet and tried to pull her out of the swing. Hoshi just smiled and when Leilani let go of her feet Hoshi knocked her over by putting her feet on Leilani's shoulders and pushing off. Leilani fell onto the floor in tears."

Tobias finally had to stop telling stories when it was his turn to check out how close we were to our destination.

/We mind as well get off./ He sent us. /The ship is altering course and this is as close as we are going to get./

Tobias flew back and demorphed.

Marco was the first to morph since he didn't know how to swim. When he got to a certain point we pushed him off.

Rachel carefully balanced herself on the railing before doing a perfect swan dive. "Show off!" I yelled after her.

Tobias was next; he did the Vulcan hand thing at us and then took a running leap. We watched as he fell towards the water.

Arbron sighed, he was nervous, before doing what Tobias had done: a running jump.

It was just me and Jake now. We shared a look. "We can jump together." He suggested. I nodded , we climbed onto the railing and then both of us stepped into thin air.

I couldn't stop the scream that came from my throat as I fell. I quickly switched gears and pictured the dolphin in my mind.

When I hit the water I sank under the surface. I could feel the ship moving not too far a way. I could dimly see the others around me morphing. Only Marco was fully dolphin.

After we were all in morph we swam in the direction of the Dome.

/I recognize the seascape./ I reported. /We are really close./ /That is good./ Arbron said as we swam.

/We're going to want to get air and breath deeply before diving./ I told everyone.

We surfaced and paused for a few seconds. In the distance was a helicopter flying low to the ground and a line of some type was dragging from it. /They're searching for the Dome./ Jake commented.

We dove and headed more or less straight down.

We swam for several minutes without seeing anything of interest. /How much – oh!/ Rachel's voice suddenly said.

The rest of us caught up with her, curious to know what she saw. When I saw it too I mentally gasped. It was shaped like a plate with a more or less clear dome over it.

We followed Arbron to a hatch and he pressed a button with his beak.

/I have already told them that I am here with friends./ Arbron reported. /We must hurry. I need air./

We swam into the airlock and once Arbron pressed the other button the outer door closed and the water began to drain out.

Once the water was low enough we began to demorph. By the time the water was finished draining we were all in our original forms.

We all watched as Arbron then pressed another button and the door into the Dome opened. I saw beautiful blueish grass and strange trees.

Then I saw them. They were standing a short distance away and watching us closely. They were both smaller than Arbron. They were different then each other; the slightly smaller one's fur had purple mixed in with the blue and the blade at the end of the tail was shaped like a scalpel instead of a scythe.

I wondered if the smaller one was Anjinnl seeing that there were several differences between this one and Arbron and the other one.

Arbron must have been speaking privately with them and vice versa because there was visible reactions from all of them.

Finally Arbron turned to us. /Everyone, these are Aximili and Anjinnl. Aximili, Anjinnl these are Jake, Rachel, Cassie, Marco and Tobias./ He said in introduction.

Marco did the Vulcan hand thing. "Hi, welcome to Earth." He said brightly. Tobias stuck out his hand and slowly the smaller one reached out and they shook hands.

/We shouldn't stay long./ Arbron said after a few minutes of silence. /The Yeerks are searching for the Dome at this moment./ Aximili and Anjinnl did something unusual with their eyestalks.

/Do you have morphs that can swim?/ Arbron asked. /We captured a rather large swimming animal a few days ago when it swam near the Dome. We caught it and acquired it/ A feminine voice reported. /That is good./ Arbron said.

/We will stop the Yeerks from laying this planet to waste./ Arbron said. I felt uneasy. Arbron had told us the fate of planets that Yeerks had invaded but hearing it again was unsettling.

/We won't all fit in the airlock so we will have to morph in groups./ Arbron said after a moment of silence.

Arbron sent us humans into the airlock to morph. It didn't talk long for us to morph. We swam out and waited for a bit before Arbron and two sharks swam out.

The dolphin brain nearly flipped out.

Then something happened that shook me out of my fear: the water seemed to explode.

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	6. Chapter 6

Man, I was getting tired of the rain but the sun likes me a little too much; makes me feel lightheaded and maybe that's because I don't drink enough water.

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/Depth Charge./ Tobias said. /They've found us./

/Swim for land!/ Arbron yelled. We complied.

We had been heading for land for a few moments when something appeared over head. A Blade Ship.

A few minutes later there were splashes. /Uh guys, we've got company./ Marco said. He sounded fairly worried.

/What is it?/ Arbron asked. /I think we've got Taxxons behind us./ Marco reported. /Those worms can swim!/ Rachel demanded.

/Yes, they can swim. We may have to kill them./ Arbron informed us.

/Can these morphs fight?/ Aximili asked. /Yes, your morphs are usually seen as cold blooded killers./ Jake replied.

/In a few minutes we will turn around and fight them./ Arbron told us. /Yes, my Prince./ Anjinnl said.

We swam a little further before stopping and turning around.

Since the dolphin isn't naturally violent I tried to see the Taxxons as sharks. It sort of worked.

/Charge!/ Arbron ordered.

/This is for Sparta!/ Marco yelled.

/Sparta?/ Anjinnl asked. /Tell you later./ Tobias said.

With that we sped at the Taxxons and plowed into them. The one I hit exploded like a watermelon that had been thrown onto the floor; I would have thrown up if I was human.

In a few minutes the remaining Taxxons were feasting on their injured and dead fellows.

We quickly took off again before they could remember that they were supposed to kill us.

We had only been swimming again for a few minutes when something big hit the water.

A strange noise that didn't sound like anything I have heard before and the dolphin brain didn't seem to know it either.

/A mardrut,/ Arbron said after a few moments. /How in the universe did he acquire one?/ /I can't imagine that he could have come anywhere in the entire system without someone knowing./ Anjinnl said. /Between the patrols and other things it would make it impossible to land. His face is well known./ /Do you even know what he looks like?/ Aximili nearly demanded. /No,/ Anjinnl replied, /after all I am just a lowly computer technician./

/Is that snark?/ Marco asked, curiosity and amusement thick in his thought speech.

/Just swim!/ Arbron ordered.

I'm not sure how long we had been swimming when he spoke. /I'm coming for you my Andalite friends./ He said.

Both sharks seemed to waver, as if something was bothering them. /We faced him once without Arbron and we survived./ I told Aximili and Anjinnl.

/You've faced him and lived?/ Aximili asked. /I honor you./ /Thanks,/ Marco said. /But I'd trade that honor for a boat with a motor just so we could get away!/ He nearly yelled.

Meanwhile Visser Three just kept gaining on us and we were beginning to tire.

/Should I capture you and have you infested or should I just eat you? I'll decide your fate soon./ The Visser said.

It was then that something occurred to me: a whale was singing nearby and the song sounded familiar. Maybe, just maybe this was the whale that we had helped a few days ago.

/Help us!/ I cried out to the whale. /There is something chasing us that would see the oceans and land laid to waste. We are the only ones that stand between him and the planet./

Part of me knew that it was hopeless but I had to try to get help for us.

/We won't make it to safety before tiring./ Arbron said softly. /I will stay and fight him while the rest of you get away./ /But Prince Arbron, you are the highest ranking member of our military here./ Aximili protested. /Then you know why I must do this./ Arbron said.

With that Arbron stopped and turned around. The rest of us made the same decision at the same time. We stopped and turned around.

_Good-bye, Mom and Dad. _I thought. _Good-bye grandma and grandpa. Good-bye to all of my family there are too many of you to say good-bye too one at a time. Good-bye Midnight and Brownie, I should have given you a better name but I was only six._

/I've decided what to do with you my Andalite friends. After such a long chse I am hungry./

We charged and he charged.

Then somethings moved beneath us. All of us stopped and watched as the shadowy things came up higher and higher.

/It's whales!/ I cried.

/Whales?/ Aximili asked. /Whales are mammals that live in the Oceans of the Earth. The are the largest mammals on the planet./ Anjinnl sounding smug.

/Enough!/ Arbron told them, annoyed

We watched in some amusement as Visser Three hurried away from us and the whales. Finally Marco and Rachel started laughing. /Whales are mostly harmless idiot!/ Marco jeered to us

The whales came back and I felt some satisfaction from them and that they wanted us to protect the Earth.

They allowed us to demorph on them to rest before remorphing.

We swam up the same river that we had used last time and demorphed. We waded to shore and opened the back packs that we had left there the night before with extra clothes for Aximili and Anjinnl.

Once on shore Rachel started to sort through the clothes until she had two piles of clothes for our new allies.

Anjinnl was the first to start morphing into a human. When she was finished a girl that looked Asian stood there wearing a leotard that was tighter then Rachel's and mine.

"It was the only one that remotely fit me that was taken from the Skrit Na and given to my group" Anjinnl explained.

Rachel handed her the pile of clothes that was for her. "Do you need any help?" she asked Anjinnl. "I might, we were taught how to dress properly by humans that have been captured and placed in zoos but they might have taught us wrong for amusement." Anjinnl said.

Rachel and I took her a short ways away after telling the boys to assist Aximili in getting dressed.

I was impressed with Anjinnl as she dressed. She either knew where the clothes went or was able to make a good guess as to where this or that article of clothing went. Rachel and I only had to correct a few times and that was because she didn't understand exactly how to put it on, like socks.

I helped her tie the sneakers that we had brought, they were close enough to the size of her morph's feet so that her feet wouldn't get pinched or be sliding around in them.

After we finished we returned to see how Aximili, Arbron and the boys were doing. Jake and Tobias were shaking their heads and Marco looked like he wanted to start laughing. Arbron on the other hand looked worn and vaguely amused.

Aximili had put his clothes on in the right places but incorrectly. He had put his socks on his hands and put both the pants and shirt on backwards and the socks weren't on correctly either.

Anjinnl smiled.

"I've seen worse." She pronounced after a few seconds.

Arbron gestured to Aximili and Anjinnl. "I'll take you to our temporary Scoop." He told them. They nodded and followed him out of the wooded area.

We watched them leave before dressing ourselves and hurrying back to our homes.

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That night I flew to the Gardens and slipped into the dolphin tank at first all I did was play with them as a human before I morphed into a dolphin and swam with them.

I hadn't felt more at peace since before we took the shortcut into the abandoned construction site.

xxxxxxx

This is the end of this book. The next part will be the fifth book.

I decided that the time line will be flexible so they make references to movies that weren't out during the publication of the books. Some of it is that I don't quite remember the movies that came out during that time frame. The rest of it is for some amusement value. I mean don't tell me that none of you got a kick out of Marco yelling 'This is for Sparta!'

And I'm not sure if a depth charge would have been realistic but it seemed to fit.

Oh and if anyone can tell me why Anjinnl's father isn't talked about I will update ASAP!


	7. Part 3

Well, no one seems to know how Anjinnl's father is. I am slightly disappointed but maybe I wasn't as obvious as I thought I was. Hm.

Well anyway this is the third part or book #5.

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Hi, my name is Marco. If you want a last name then don't hold your breath because you won't be getting it any time soon.

I guess I'll tell you just a little bit about myself. Well my Mom dead a few years back. She went out in our boat and there was a storm. The boat was found not only with the safety line frayed but the bottom nearly ripped off.

My Dad took Mom's death really hard. He quit his job as a software designer for some company that I can't remember the name of at the moment, and even then I might not tell you so you can't track me. Now he works as a janitor for some company and drinks when he's not working.

I've thought about leaving the Animorphs for some time but for now I don't know how to tell them that I want out.

I'm a thoughtful person. Last night I saved an older man from muggers by morphing into a gorilla and chasing the guys off.

At the moment I'm in school in a boring History listening to something about the Salem Witch Trials. Or at least that's what I think the teacher's talking about.

Finally the bell rang and I nearly raced out of the classroom.

It took me only a few minutes reach the lunch room.

I sat down at the same table as Jake and Tobias. "Max feels like he needs to go home." Jake said as he ate his macaroni and cheese. "How about Anji?" I asked. "She wants to stay and finish high school here." Tobias answered.

"How does Bromly feel?" I asked. "He isn't sure." Jake said.

I nodded.

So, Ax wanted to go home. I couldn't say that I was surprised. Someone needed to tell the Andalites what had happened. Arbron didn't feel that he should abandon us and Anjinnl was better with computers then both Aximili and and Arbron.

At that moment Cassie and Rachel walked by our table. "Tobias, I was wondering since you're great at math if you could help me with my math homework?" Rachel asked. Tobias nodded and Rachel smiled. "Thank you," she said and then walked away with Cassie.

I turned in time to see Tobias bit into his hamburger that was saturated in A1 Sauce.

"There are two things that I don't get about you Tobias." I said. "Oh, and what are they?" he asked. "Number one: your method of flirting. Aren't you suppose to flirt with the girl by asking her if she needs help with her homework?" Tobias shrugged. "How am I suppose to know if she needs help with homework unless she asks me?" he asks.

"Fair enough," I concurred.

"And number two?" Tobias prompted me gently. "How can you stand to have that much A1 Sauce on your hamburger?" I asked.

Tobias stared at me for a few minutes before smiling. "I like the taste." He answered. "Besides my Dad thinks that Dr. Pepper tastes similar to muddy water."

Both Jake and I laughed at the thought of anyone making muddy water into soda.

xxxxxx

The next day we met in the woods were Arbron, Anjinnl and Aximili lived. Aximili was saying something about watching TV would help them learn more about humans. And Anjinnl was saying something to him along the lines that they could learn more about humans by going to school then watching Soap Operas.

"Aximili wishes to return to our home world and let our superiors know what happened." Arbron told us. "It is a logical choice seeing that you need an experienced leader and Anjinnl is a gifted computer technician we will need her here to help monitor Yeerk Transmissions and any suspicious activity among your people."

Anjinnl smiled a bit. The little I knew about the Andalite people females were not considered warriors and should stay at home or far away from a battle field. So this must be a boost for her confidence to know that she was considered valuable here.

"Aximili and Anjinnl are going to build a distress beacon to get a Bug Fighter to land. Once it lands we will destroy those on board and then Aximili will take it back to friendly space and give the report.

"Seeing that I don't trust Aximili not to blow our cover in some way I need someone to take Anjinnl to somewhere that sells electronic devices so that we can begin." Arbron told us.

"I can take her to the Mall." Tobias said. "There's a Radio Shack there that will have all sorts of stuff that might be needed." "And Rachel and I can go with them." I said quickly. "It would be less suspicions for a girl to not have another girl with her." I quickly said.

Rachel stared at me but Tobias bobbed his head in agreement.

Arbron smiled. "Then it's agreed then. The four of you will go and get the compatible equipment. As soon as possible.

xxxxxxx

Two hours later we walked into the Mall and headed for Radio Shack. Rachel and Anji were talking about which boy actors that they thought were cute and which style of clothes would suit Anjji the best.

We reached Radio Shack in no time and entered.

Anji took what felt like hours reading the electronics componates before selecting a few here and there.

I distracted myself by looking at the remote control cars and similar things.

Finally Rachel came over and said that it was time to hit the food court.

We sat down at a table with some food: nachos, cinnamon buns and some fries. Anji took a bite out of a cinnamon bun and started gagging

"It's a sugar rush." Tobias said. "Leilani gets them when Mom tries to limit her intake of sweet stuff.

We finished our food without further incident and at Rachel's insistence we hit a few clothing stores. Needless to say Rachel left with several articles of new clothes and Anji left with nearly an entire wardrobe.

We returned to the Scoop in the woods and Ax smiled at the sight of the stuff from Radio Shack. "This should suffice to make what we need to make a transmitter. All we need now is a subspace transmitter." He said happily

"Well I doubt that we can find one at Radio Shack." I said sarcastically.

"Well," Arbron began, "you told me that Chapman contacts Visser Three so he would need one in order to do that.

"However, we can't do it the same way that you spied on Chapman. We would need to be able to get in unseen and get out the same way since the subspace transmitter is about the size of the vegetable that you call a 'pea'."

Cassie suddenly smiled.

"Ants are small and they can carry heavy things so we could get in and our unseen."

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Any takers on the identity of Anjinnl's Father?


	8. Chapter 8

For those that don't know the identity of Anjinnl's Father it will be revealed in this chapter.

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Late a few nights later when we knew that the Chapmans weren't home we met in the back yard of the empty house that was next to the Chapmans'.

Everyone was worried about the mission but this was important on different degrees. If we could get our hands on the transmitter then we could not only send Ax home but tick off Chapman.

We walked as close as we dared to the side of the house where Chapman's secret room was. I took a few deep breaths before concentrating on the ant. I could feel my body changing, shrinking.

Soon I was an ant.

/Is everyone ready?/ Arbron asked. Everyone answered that they were and off we went.

I was feeling pretty optimistic until ants started attack us. Somehow we escaped them and found an empty space that wasn't the outside.

One by one we demorphed just to be on the safe side.

Once we were done Anji and Ax went over to the desk with Arbron and started to search the desk. Out of boredom Tobias and I joined them.

Tobias and I found what seemed to be a bunch of computer flies and started to scroll through them. It was quite fun to select files in the air and move them around.

/Please go back to that last file./ Arbron said gently. I went back and Arbron, Ax and Anji leaned forward a bit. /So, Visser One is coming to Earth./ Arbron mused.

/Prince Arbron?/ Anji asked softly. /Does it say why she's coming?/ /I believe it has something to do with us./ Arbron answered.

Anji nodded and then retrieved something from one of the drawers. /I found it./ She said solemnly

I really wasn't looking forward to morphing back into an ant but that was the best way to get out without causing too much trouble.

Let's just say that the moment that we reentered the tunnels we were attacked. We barely got out fo there alive and that's only because we started to demorph after a certain point.

Cassie and Jake were a tangle of limbs and the rest of us weren't that much better off.

After we retrieved the transmitter Rachel did her best to stomp the ground flat that we disturbed with our sooner then expected return to our true forms.

We quickly returned home seeing that no doubt soon our parents were going to start missing us.

Once I got home I got into the shower and to my disgust found parts of several ants stuck to my body.

After I got out I went to my room and picked up the book I had gotten out of a library about ants. I learned why the ants had attacked us, we weren't part of their colony, and that in the author's opinion that ants could lay waste to the planet if they had nuclear weapons in a matter of weeks. I serious doubted that; it would take them a week at the most.

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The next day was Anji's day of school on Earth. Somehow she had managed to get her classes arranged in such a way that she was in the same classroom as at least one of us.

We all silently agreed to slowly drift over to the table that she was sitting at so that it wouldn't look too suspicious.

"Tomorrow it will be ready." She said about half way through lunch. We all knew what she was talking about. "That's good that you're going to be done your report." Cassie said in case someone was listening.

And the day after that was the second anniversary of my Mother's death. Any joy I had been feeling fled.

I loved my Mom and I know that she loved me. Why did she have to go sailing when a storm was coming?

"Did I say something?" Anji asked softly. "No," I nearly whispered, "it's just the day after tomorrow is the second anniversary of my Mom's death. She drowned during a storm at sea."

I closed my eyes and lowered my head so that no one could see my tears. After a few moments I felt a hand on one of mine.

I looked up to see Anji looking at me with sympathetic eyes. "My Father disappeared while on a mission with two cadets. They were supposed to just return a pair of abducted teenagers back to their home when they discovered that the enemy might have a dangerous weapon in their hands so they diverted and headed there instead."

"With two teenagers?" Cassie asked, worry was thick in her voice. "They had orders to never leave the transport. Besides, they didn't think they had time to drop them off before chasing after the weapon." Anji explained.

"All I know is that once they arrived my Father and the cadets got separated. That was the last time that one of the cadets was seen, never to be seen ever again. My Father . . . ." She trailed off, obviously upset. "Vanished as well. No one knows what happened to the two teenagers that I know of." At that point tears began to run down her face.

"What was he like?" I asked. Pain filled her eyes. "He disappeared before I was born and my brother barely remembers him except that at times he was distant but that he would play with him." She said softly.

Cassie slid close to her and hugged her which Anji returned.

"If it will help you feel better we can show you the Gardens later." Cassie told her. "Do you have black panthers?" Anji asked. "We have one." Cassie answered brightly

It wasn't until we left for our other classes that it occurred to me that Arbron had told us about his friend that had disappeared with two human teenagers. I wondered as I sat down in my seat if there was a connection but I quickly shook my head. If Arbron had been one of the cadets wouldn't he know what happened to Anji's Father, or at least have an idea?

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The next day we met in an abandoned rock quarry far from everything. Anji said that she would stay up on the top to make sure that no stupid teenagers came by.

Ax set up the transmitter and everyone expect Ax morphed and slid into the shadows.

After a few minutes later a Bug Fighter flew over head and slowly landed in the quarry. A moment later the hatch opened and a Hork-Bajir stepped out; we charged.

/Ahhh!/ Anji suddenly screamed. We nearly froze at hearing her scream.

Then Dracon Beams were fired on us above. /Hork-Bajir on the top!/ Ax called. We were surrounded with no way to escape. In a nutshell we were trapped.

Then he appeared. He had what passed as a smug expression on his face.

/Foolish Andalites, do you really think that we don't change our codes every so ofter?/ Visser Three asked with hints of curiosity, smugness and derision.

Arbron seemed to tense and the Visser noticed whatever Arbron was doing. /Do you really think that you can get away with attacking me? You would either be fried by Dracon Beams or die by my hand./ The Vissor said as he flicked his Tail Blade.

Arbron shifted slightly, as if he was unsure what to do. At that moment two Hork-Bajir appeared dragging Anji as a black panther to our little gathering.

They threw Anji at the Visser's feet and he seemed to smile.

His Tail Blad moved. /No!/ Arbron cried out.

The Tail Blade stopped at her throat. /Try anything and this one dies./ He said coldly. Arbron backed down.

At that moment the Blade Ship appeared and landed. A hatched opened and Arbron lead us inside. Two Hork-Bajir picked Anji up and threw her inside. With that the hatch closed.

We felt the Blade Ship lift off.

There was silence until Anji regained conscience. "I was stunned my Prince." Anji said softly, shame was evident in her tone.

/I don't blame you./ he said gently.

Suddenly a portal opened, showing us the Earth. If I had been human I would have cried. It was so beautiful.

/He's trying to break us./ Arbron said gently. /He wants us to feel despair that we have failed to protect it./

Then the view changed to a ship. /A Pool Ship./ Anji whispered in fear. After that the portal disappeared.

The Blade Ship docked but the hatch didn't open.

We waited for several minutes before it opened and we slowly exited. On both sides of the hangar were humans, Hork-Bajir, some Taxxons and some other species that I didn't recognize. On one side the uniforms were gold and on the other the uniforms were red.

They then stood at attention and then Visser Three appeared with a human woman near the end of the back on the hangar.

/As you can see Visser One, the Andalites have been caught and now it will be much more easy to take over the human race./ He announced to all.

As the two Vissers came closer I noticed Anji stiffen, then laid down and bury her head under her paws. I was curious for only a few moments why she was reacting this before I recognized Visser One. It was a face that I knew all too well: my Mother's face.

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Well, what do you think?

Please review. *puppy eyes*


	9. Chapter 9

Sorry that this took awhile but I messed up in a few places and that needed to be corrected. There still might be flaws so I am deeply sorry if there are.

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I wanted to demorph and go to her but it was as if I was glued to deck. Finally I was able to do something. I sat down.

/Marco, don't do anything stupid./ Jake whispered to me. /Stand up if you can. We can't allow them to figure out the truth./ /Marco,/ Tobias whispered. /That's isn't your Mother in a sense. She's one of them./

It was all a lie. I realized. The frayed safety line and the fact that there was no body. There was never a body to find.

/Why Visser One,/ Visser Three nearly sneered. /You seem to be afraid of the humanoid one./ "It's called a gorilla." My Mother's voice said coldly, devoid of the warmth that I heard so ofter in it.

"If you're going to be in charge of the invasion you should learn about the creatures that live on it." She informed Visser Three coldly.

/And take a human host as you did?/ Visser Three asked with a laugh. /I think not. Humans have no natural weapons and are rather slow when it comes to moving./ He paused for a moment before continuing. /I would think that you would rather have a Hork-Bajir host again/

She than said something too softly for me to hear and Visser Three's tail twitched in a manner that I didn't like.

The group wearing gold hands moved for their weapons and the reds did as well; giving each other death glares the entire time.

/They don't like each other./ Cassie observed.

/Of course not,/ Tobias said. /The red either means that they're not going to survive the episode or that they're in command. If the later is the case then the golds are still bitter that they no longer are in charge of the ships and they'll probably die in the line of duty./

/Actually each color denotes which Visser that they serve./ Arbron said.

The next thing I knew Visser One was snapping her fingers and walking away with a group of gold troops.

We all watched her go.

We turned our attention back to Visser Three. He seemed unsure a few minutes before turning back to us. /Eight Andalites, should I have you tortured, or should I simply have you infested?/ He asked almost maliciously.

/And have more abominations like you Yeerk Filth?/ Ax demanded. /I would rather die by my own Tail Blade then die by your hand./ Anji whispered with bravo I know she didn't feel.

The Visser cocked his head to one side. /A female Aristh? Last I knew your kind weren't welcomed in the Andalite Military./ He said with derision.

/You've been out of the loop too long./ Arbron said calmly. /Prince Arbron-Bantec-Deroma,/ Visser Three said with interest. /Are you looking for your missing friend? Elfangor is never coming back./ He sneered.

If I hadn't know better I would have thought that the Visser butchered someone's name.

The Visser than turned to his troopers. /Escort them to a holding cell. They can't stay in morph forever. In less than two hours they will begin to feel the urge to demorph and that will only get stronger as more time passes until their bodies force them to demorph. I want them guarded at all times so that they don't escape./ With that that he turned and walked away.

A large group of Hork-Bajir Controllers came forward and waved their Dracon Beams at us until we started moving. Anji seemed just as lost for words as we were; but somehow I knew that it wasn't from fear.

We were led down the corridors of the Pool Ship until we reached a area that seemed devoid of people. A door opened and the Hork-Bajir pointed their Dracon Beams at us and said something that I guessed meant get in.

We entered and the door closed behind us.

/You met Visser Three?/ Jake asked Arbron after a few moments. Arbron nodded his leopard head. /We went on a mission together before he was taken./

Anji was as silent as a rock.

Silence fell a few moments later and at least I thought about how we were either a) going to get out of this or b) what was going to happen if we couldn't. If I never came home then my Dad would really go off the deep end.

/There has to be a way out of here!/ Anji said, breaking the silence first. /We might be able to morph into ants, find a crack and get out./ Cassie suggested. /We could just attack them when they open the door./ Rachel commented. /And charge them./ Arbron said thoughtfully. /Yes, it would be better to go down fighting then be infested./

Suddenly the door opened and there stood a few Hork-Bajir dressed in gold uniforms; at their feet there were our guards on the deck.

The leader of the little band turned to us. "You must go down this corridor that way." He said and pointed to his left, our right. "Once you reach the end go right and then continue until you reach a security station. You are to go left then take the drop shaft to deck 23. There will be an escape pod waiting for you there; it will be the only one that is open. It will take you back to where you were captured. Some of you might need to demorph." He finished

it was then that I realized that not only was he speaking perfect English, like he'd gone to Harvard or Yale or one of those schools, but that he seemed to be helping us.

/Internal Politics./ Arbron said softly to us. /If we escape it makes Visser Three look bad./ Then he turned to the Hork-Bajir and nodded. The Gold Hork-Bajir turned and left.

After they had been left Arbron led us down the corridor. We met some Controllers on the way but we quickly got rid of most of them.

The drop shaft was an interesting experience, it was just a shaft in a wall that dropped. The worst part was that were was no floor. If I had been human I would have thrown up.

Once we got in the escape pod we automatically ejected it.

We all demorphed since it was a tight fit. Once the escape pod landed we quickly morphed into birds and flew away and it self destructed a few minutes later.

We flew to the Scoop and landed. Anji morphed almost immediately into a human after she demorphed and went in the Scoop; a few moments later we heard sobs. Cassie tried to follow her only for Arbron to stop her. /Let her be./ He told her.

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The next day I went to the cemetery that had my Mom's memorial in it with my Dad. It was a nice place with flowers, well cut grass and a few trees.

We stood in front of the marker for several moments; just remembering. My Dad broke the silence first. "Two years," he whispered. "Yeah," I whispered. Two years of living a lie of a type.

There was some more silence which I was fine with.

"Marco, I have been thinking." My Dad began. "Your mother wouldn't be happy that we weren't going on with our lives." I just nodded. "I spoke to Alan yesterday and he helped me get in touch with Jerry." He continued.

This time I looked up. Alan was a former co-worker; Tobias's Father and Jerry was his boss back when he worked for that company.

"I spoke to Jerry about getting my job back there; he said he would love to have me back. And Alan has volunteered to help me get familiar with the system." He told me. "

I felt a wide smile come to my face. Our lives would soon be normal again.

"I just hope that you haven't forgotten how to play Doom." I told him playfully. He smiled. "Let's see what I know before we go over to Alan's for supper." He told me, a smile on his face. "I've been wanting to see if Tobias has been improving on his game play of Super Mario World." I said.

As we left I promised myself that one day I would free my Mother and then we would truly be a happy family.

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I will be skipping to the eighth book.

And for those of you that still don't know who Anji's Father is either reread this fic or wait for the next part.


	10. Part 4

Blast, I need to stop pulling things off. Part of this is I didn't have an idea which Star Trek movie that Marco, Jake and Ax went to see. So finally I wikied it and discovered that it had male Klingons and that it was Enterprise-D. How helpful. *end of sarcasm*

So I realized that it was Generations; after I thought that it was First Contact. My first hint should have been that it's Enterprise-_D_ not E.

And I am just stalling.

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My name is Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill I am an Andalite Aristh. I'd tell you a little bit more about myself but most of it you would already know. And I understand that some humans find things that they already know getting repeated is boring.

To make a long story short I came to Earth in a Dome Ship with a little over a hundred Andalite Warriors. We had come to confirm a Yeerk presence on the planet and were attacked. As far as we know Prince Arbron-Bantec-Deroma, myself and a female computer technician Anjinnl-Kardon-Liuary are the only ones that survived.

As of now I am sitting in a human classroom listening to the teacher teach the young humans incorrect mathematics. I don't understand how Anjinnl can just sit there and not correct the teacher on anything.

The school bell rings telling the whole room that school is over for the day. It's about time is all I can think as I leave the room with Anjinnl not too far behind.

As we walk outside I see Jake with the others talking about how this cool new Star Trek movie was in the theater.

I wondered right there how one could have a trek among the stars.

Before I knew it Anjinnl had grabbed me by the arm and led me over to the group. The next thing I knew we were headed for the theater and Anjinnl was threatening to duct tape my arms to the arm rests and then tape my mouth shut so that I couldn't draw attention to us by saying stupid things.

I find passing as a human the hardest since I never received the training that Prince Arbron and Anjinnl received. They were supposed to be staying on Earth and I am not sure if I would have been staying or not.

After a few short movie clips the movie began. It was interesting but not really seeing that half the stuff in it couldn't happen or not the way they were talking about.

I opened my mouth to say this but Anjinnl glared at me and held up a roll of duct tape. This is a little unusual for her but she has changed since we were captured and taken to the Pool Ship some time ago. She is still herself in some ways but different in others. The old Anjinnl wouldn't have threatened me with a human adhesive.

So I stayed quiet and watched the whole thing, deciding that my comments could wait until after the movie since I really didn't want something sticky on my face.

After a time I found myself wishing that I had asked Prince Arbron if I could join him in his fact finding mission. That way I wouldn't have to worry about duct tape.

Finally the movie was over and the lights came back on. We headed for the exits. Marco and Tobias were talking about how cool this and that was. I learned that Tobias and Marco had already seen it with their families and that it was just as cool as the first time.

Once we were no longer completely crowded by humans leaving the theater I got ready to complain about the movie again when Anjinnl once again held up the roll of duct tape.

Suddenly an older human male approached us and grabbed Jake. "They're here!" he cried out. "They're taking over the planet."

I knew what this meant. The Yeerk in this man was dying for whatever reason, most likely because we had destroyed the Kandrona not too long ago. Andalites had seen it before when we had destroyed them. Yeerks that couldn't get to a Yeerk Pool that could have access to one died.

I knew that the human Animorphs didn't know that Hosts that had their Yeerk die met with death. That's how it was on many worlds where the invasion was silent like this one.

I looked at Anjinnl and saw that she looked hopeful. Of course seeing that she was a lowly computer technician she wouldn't know.

As an ambulance and police arrived I found myself wishing that Prince Arbron was here. He had thought about telling the others what we had done by destroying the Kandrona; but didn't want them to regret destroying it when it was saving lives.

The man was pulled into the ambulance and I saw a police officer press some thing inconspicuously to the man's neck and the man went limp.

Suddenly I didn't feel like telling everyone just how inaccurate the movie was. I didn't know why but my human stomach was churning in an unpleasant manner.

Finally the ambulance left and we went silently on our way.

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The next day I went to Tobias's place with Marco. They were talking about who would beat who at some childish game. Andalite children didn't play silly games like I had seen Jake, Tobias and Marco play. A boy running around a world to save his world and a princess from an evil force is just one example but for some reason they love it.

Tobias's mother was in the kitchen cooking or something and his many siblings were fighting over which movie to watch; something about Bambi, Cinderella, Star Wars and the Muppet Movie.

"How can the stars fight each other?" I asked Tobias silently. "It means that the whole galaxy is at war if you will." He replied.

Tobias then led us into a room that had a look of an office and smiling he showed us several computers. "Be careful with them and don't get into something that isn't a game. My Dad as well as Marco's Dad will kill us all if we mess with their work." He told me.

"Play on mine Max," Marco said. "It has cooler games than any Tobias has."

I sat down and after a bit I found myself bored with the game and decided to find a more amusing one to play.

It didn't take me long and I was done. I saved it and closed out of the game. I win! I thought, thoroughly pleased with myself.

"Tobias, Marco, who is this?" a male voice asked. I turned to see a man that could only be Tobias's father standing in the doorway. "Relax Al, he's Marco's friend." A man that I knew to be Marco's father said as he came in the room.

Tobias's father came over muttering to himself. "I hope that none of you messed with our work." He said as he checked on the computer Tobias was at. "Don't worry Dad I know that you would feed us to something if we did." Tobias commented playfully.

We left the office and headed for the kitchen where Tobias opened the cooling unit that humans use to keep their food cold and got some drinks that I knew were called sodas before he grabbed a bag of chips from the cupboard.

I found myself wishing that Prince Arbron was here instead of tracking the movement of Yeerks. I always felt a little safer when he was around.

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Well this chapter is done so what do you think?


	11. Chapter 11

I am so sorry that this took so long. My Muse abandoned me at one point and then the summer heat got to me; making me feel lazy.

And I need to take a shower.

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I was back in the human school with Cassie the next day and thoroughly bored. It wasn't until I heard a commotion that the students in the room I was in left for the hall.

I joined them out of curiosity and it would keep me out of the classroom for some time. I had no desire to have to listen to biology that was either incorrect or primitive.

I saw one of the Yeerk leaders, Chapman, shooing students out of a classroom. I saw Jake standing there; I saw I eyes widen and I saw him flee.

I raced after him along with Cassie. I knew that he had witnessed Chapman kill a Controller. He wants so much for his brother to be freed from the Yeerks. More now then ever since he was accidentally infested a few weeks back.

Prince Arbron had taken Jake's place while we waited for the Yeerk to die. We all took turns guarding Jake until it happened.

I had a feeling that I was going to hear from him how upset he was about what he had witnessed. I found myself wishing that Arbron was there to tell Jake that it was the Yeerks that were killing those Controllers; not him.

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A few days later I was with Anjinnl working on human homework when the others showed up in their birds of prey morphs.

/Ax,/ Marco started. /What did you do the other day to my Dad's work files?/ He demanded.

"I just played the games that were on it." I answered simply. "There was one that was correct the mistakes so I did." I informed them.

/Ax, that was a computer program for a radio telescope./ Tobias said simply. /Not a game./

/Both my Dad and Tobias's are blown away by it./ Marco said. /Alan said that this could usher in a new understanding of space and help us shift through the white noise of space better./

/He also said that it would be a great asset to SETI./ Tobias put in. "SETI?" I asked. /Search of Extraterrestrial Intelligence./ Jake said. /In other words aliens./ Rachel said

Before I could fully process what they were saying something hard connected with my head. "Ow!" I yelped and I turned to see Anjinnl standing over me with a school book.

/What are we going to do?/ she asked, anger and concern evident in her mental voice.? Prince Arbron is gone so we can't ask him what to do./ /We tell them nothing or as little as possible and I will see about destroying the program./ I told her.

Anji nodded and walked into the Scoop. "Where is the program now?" I asked. "At the Observatory." Marco answered after he finished demorphing.

"You're lucky that we were able to convince our fathers that it was a freak accident. My Dad is still puzzling over the whole thing." Tobias said as he picked a flower.

Anjinnl chose at that moment to return with a notebook and started writing. I peered over her shoulder and frowned. It was just a bunch of mathematical equations; both human and Andalite.

Suddenly something occurred to me. This radio telescope could be used to communicate with the Andalite Home World and let them know what happened.

"Ax, what are you thinking?" Rachel asked. "Not much apparently." Anjinnl answered for me.

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/Remind me again why you couldn't have brought Anji with you." Tobias asked as we flew towards the observatory. /Anjinnl would destroy it before contacting our home world and letting them know that the Yeerks are indeed on Earth./ I stated.

/Oh,/ was Tobias's only reply.

Finally it came into sight.

I was once again taken back by the primitiveness of the Humans. /You still you dishes to pick up signals?/ I asked. /Until we find something better than yes./ Tobias said calmly.

/My parents are going to kill me when they learn that I skipped school./ Tobias muttered. /Then why did you come?/ I asked. /Because I thought it would be nice and I hate Mr. Gagnon anyway./ Tobias said in a tone that I learned was sarcasm.

/It's still under construction so you shouldn't meet anyone./ Tobias told me as we got closer.

I flew through an open window of an empty office and demorphed. I took my place at a computer and disabled the security system as if it was annoying child's program. I then did what I had to do to get in contact with the Andalite Home World. I braced myself for the fallout that could come from this.

It took about ten Earth minutes to do it and I knew that I would have to face the consequences of my actions.

I told the Andalite on the other end as little as possible. That Prince Arbron-Bantec-Deroma was alive as well as myself and Anjinnl-Kardon-Liuary. I told him that Prince Arbron had found a way to gather information but I wasn't sure what that was. I had decided to omit the humans from this. I didn't want them to suffer from it.

The hardest thing I did was tell my Father that my brother, the one that we had hoped was still alive out there; somewhere was most likely dead.

I didn't really know my brother except that he disappeared before I was born on a mission and was never heard from again.

Elfangor was a mystery to me. Even Prince Arbron was hesitant to talk about my brother. If I didn't know any better I'd say that he was hiding something.

No sooner had I finished making my vow to kill the Yeerk that more or less admitted to killing Elfangor the screen went dark.

I felt a mixture of panic and confusion.

"I had to break the connection because it was breaking my heart." A human male's voice said.

I turned and saw him standing thirty feet away holding a Dracon Beam. This man was a Controller and I was in his sights.

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And there you have it!

Hopefully I will do better at updating period. It might help if I didn't play TOR until I wrote some.


	12. Chapter 12

Originally I wasn't going to post this for a while but I not only felt bad for leaving you with a cliffhanger but I felt like writing this chapter.

This is a pretty long chapter so enjoy!

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We stared at each other for several moments. I waiting for the attack and the controller waiting for only he knew what.

"Welcome Andalite, I knew that one of your kind must have created the software so I waited for one of you to come." The Controller said almost conversationally. "The people hear know me as Gary Kozlar; my designation is Eslin three-five-nine."

Panic gripped me until the Human-Controller did something odd: he knelt on the floor, set the Dracon Beam down before standing then kicked it across the room.

/Ax,/ Tobias's voice came to me, /did he just kick his weapon across the room?/ /Yes he did./

"It appears that we have something in common Andalite." Eslin said calmly. "You see when you and your friends destroyed the Kandrona the Visser decided that some less important Yeerks needed to be sacrificed for the rest of us to survive."

/What does this have to do with me?/ I asked.

Eslin smiled at me. "Your brother Elfangor is missing isn't he? He disappeared on a mission and was never heard from again. And you heard some time ago that he wasn't coming back."

I nodded to show that I understood. Visser Three had said that Elfangor wasn't coming back and the Visser had let some Yeerks die.

"One of the causalities was someone that was close to me. We trained together and had been on many of the same assignments. My position here was deemed more important than hers so she was one of the ones cast aside." He said anger thick in his voice.

/And I guess you want me to kill the Visser so we both can have revenge./ I said. He just nodded.

/How am I to do that seeing that Visser Three is either watchful or has guards?/ I asked, more curious then anything.

Eslin smiled in a way that made me nervous. "He needs to feed." He said simply.

For a few moments I didn't fully understand what he was talking about but then I thought of how I had eaten this morning. It was possible for Andalites to eat liquefied grass but in all honesty it tastes horrible. But to stay healthy an Andalite needed fresh grass which is the reason for the Dome on our ships or the grass on the shuttles and a few fighters' decks.

Eslin walked over to a table and quickly wrote something on a piece of paper and handed it to me. I looked at it and saw that it had a date, time and place written on it.

"There are only a few guards and even then they stay back unless he calls for them or they have news for him." Eslin told me before leaving.

I quickly memorized the note before morphing back into the Northern Harrier. I still took the note with me.

/Tobias, don't tell the others what happened at the Observatory. I will tell Anjinnl and Arbron if he gets back in time./ I told him /It's your call Ax-Man./ Tobias commented.

Tobias and I split after we returned to the area where he lived and I headed for the Scoop.

Anjinnl was already there doing her homework. She made no comment as I demorphed and headed into the Scoop.

I hid the note in one of the books that Tobias and Marco picked out for us to read. It was filled with quotes that famous humans said throughout their recorded history.

I decided then and there not to tell Anjinnl about what I learned; that there was a huge chance that Visser Three could be destroyed. She's a female and a computer technician at that. She wouldn't completely understand that I needed to do this myself.

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The next morning I performed the Ritual a good distance from Anjinnl so she couldn't see what I was doing. She most likely would demand to know what I was doing and either come along or tell the others.

After I was done I raced off for the place where the Visser fed his host body.

I arrived at the place and an hour early just so that I could check the place out.

At first I doubted that this was the right place because of how normal it looked but when I ventured out by the stream that ran through the meadow I noticed that the grass was shorter and that there were Andalite hoof prints there.

He had been here recently; three days or so.

I went through a mental list of all the morphs I had that would be of use but discarded them just as fast as I thought of them. Then I remembered something; I had acquired a rattlesnake a few days ago. It was poisonous, fast and he wouldn't see it coming either.

I morphed into the snake and slithered to what I felt was a good place to be: near the stream. And I waited.

I had been waiting for some time when I felt the vibrations of what could only be bug fighters landing.

I calmed myself as I heard him bark out orders to the guards he had brought with him.

More vibrations that were getting closer; galloping I guessed from the rhythm of them.

I could smell flesh coming closer and closer.

Then the sun was blocked out. I glanced up and discovered that he was standing over me.

A hissing noise that I recognized as the noise the snake had made before it had tried to bite me. A warning the others had told me.

The Visser moved slightly so he could look at me. I could see the fear in his eyes as it dawned on him what was going to happen.

I struck.

I didn't care for the taste of Andalite flesh but at least I was poisoning him.

He shook me loose but I struck again.

After I let go that time I raced off just in time to miss his tail blade. Demorph! I told myself as I slithered towards safety.

/There's a snake!/ I heard the Visser shout. /Find it and kill it!/

Not long afterwards I found that I couldn't move anymore. Demorphing had made it impossible to move any further.

Movement and I saw a Hork-Bajir standing in front of me; ready to kill me. So, this is how it ends. I thought.

At that moment the Hork-Bajir staggered and then went flying. In It's place was a grizzly bear, roaring.

/Rachel?/ I asked. /No, it's Smoky the Bear./ She said sarcastically. /Of course it's me! Now finish demorphing idiot./

I demorphed had examined the meadow. Jake was dropping on a Hork-Bajir in his tiger morph, Tobias was in the air, and Anjinnl was baring the teeth as a Black Panther. Visser Three stood about where he had been when I bit him with two Hork-Bajir Controllers guarding him

/Two more by the Bug Fighters./ Tobias reported. /Never mind, Marco and Cassie got them./

/Tobias why is everyone here?/ I asked. /I told them that you were going after Visser Three on your own and it didn't help that Anjinnl found the note in one of her books./ He explained. /Besides if I didn't tell them then you would be dead./

I saw his logic so I didn't say anything.

/I say it's nearly time to talk to the Visser./ Rachel said. /No, this is something I need to do./ I told her. /As you wish./ she replied.

I saw the Visser stagger and I smiled grimly, the poison was working. A few moments later his body buckled and he collapsed on the ground.

The Hork-Bajir seemed to freeze as we approached. They saw Jake, Rachel, Marco, Tobias, Cassie, Anjinnl and me.

The Yeerks in their heads fear Andalites more than anything and now they saw me in my Andalite form and saw Anjinnl demorphing.

/Your Visser is finished! You can run or die with him!/ I told them. The two Controllers shared a quick look before racing away; Hork-Bajir can be very fast when motivated.

Tobias was the first one to reach Visser Three and quickly flapped his wings to get higher in the air.

Anjinnl trotted to my side and gave me a look that spoke volumes. She was worried, angry and nervous.

As we got closer to the incapacitated Visser we formed a circle and slowed down; just in case he still had enough strength to fight back.

/What?/ Tobias cried, sounding shocked.

I looked up and saw him dive towards the ground with his morph's talons extended. He pulled up before hitting the ground.

/NO! NO! NO!/ He yelled over and over.

/Tobias, what's wrong?/ Jake asked. /He bailed!/ Tobias cried out incredulously. /The Yeerk bailed!/

/Tobias you're not making any sense. Can you tell us what happened more slowly?/ Jake asked. /I saw the Yeerk crawl out of the Andalite's ear and then worm his way through the grass. He got into the stream and I can't see under the surface. I doesn't help that the current is fast./

/The Visser left his host?/ I asked, shocked.

For several moments we just stood there, stunned. At least I had a hard time wrapping my mind around the thought that the Visser would abandon his host. I had no idea what everyone else was thinking.

Suddenly Anjinnl moved to the side of the dying Andalite. I quickly hurried after her and stopped just short of him.

I watched as the Andalite looked at us with his main eyes; hope and despair warred in them.

My stomachs dropped. You could tell who the Visser was just by the darkness that seemed to come off him in waves. But with the Yeerk gone there was nothing.

/Kill me,/ he whispered desperately. /Kill me before he takes me again! Please, please kill me./

I felt my hearts stop. The thought that he still aware, still existed on any level was horrifying.

/The snake-/ /No, you don't understand!/ The Andalite said, cutting me off. /The Visser - he has backup forces ready. Half a dozen Bug Fighters! They'll keep me alive. The poison is too slow./ The despair in his voice cut me to my hearts.

/I – but you're an Andalite. I can't./ I whispered.

I turned my stalk eyes to Anjinnl and observed that she was distraught; as if this was hurting her more than it should.

/He'll take me again./ The Andalite said, begging now. /Once they find him they'll bring me to him. You don't understand: the things I've seen . . . horrible./

I watched as he lifted his tail; trying to his blade to his own throat. But the poison had weakened him too much and his tail fell.

/I understand./ He said with sorrow that twisted my stomachs. /Listen, my name is . . . ./ He trailed off clearly searching his memories for his name.

Finally he nodded and gave a weak smile of triumph. /That's it, my name is Alloran-Semitur-Corrass. I was once a War Prince. If you survive . . . my wife and two children . . . tell them that . . . I love them./

/They will hear your message./ Anjinnl said with conviction that surprised me

/Is there more that you would have us do, Prince Alloran?/ I asked.

He reached up with a weak, shaking hand that I took. /Fight them . . . stronger than you think. They . . . infiltrated . . . the home world . . . ./ He trailed off, unable to finish his message.

/The Yeerks are on the Home World?/ Anjinnl asked, fear evident in her voice.

Prince Alloran tried to nod but went limp before he could finish.

I gently laid his hand down and tried to not to think of when we would meet again.

/Come Ax, Anji, there will another chance/ Jake said gently.

We turned and hurried away before the Bug Fighters could arrive.

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When we arrived at the Scoop we noticed immediately saw that Prince Arbron was waiting for us. He didn't say anything to us but I could tell that we were in for what humans call a dressing down.

He gestured at all of us to follow him into the Scoop which we did. Our human friends sat down on the chairs that we had there for them.

I noticed that Anjinnl was morphing into her human morph. When she was done she sank into a chair, she cried and wailed as if she had lost someone important.

Cassie moved to sit next to her and wrapped Anjinnl into a hug.

/What happened?/ Prince Arbron asked as he observed Anjinnl cry. /We tried to take Visser Three out; we failed./ I informed him.

He blinked in surprise.

/What led you to believe that you could destroy him?/ He asked. /I accidentally improved a human program that was for a human radio telescope. I contacted the home world to let them know what happened. I didn't tell them about what you did. A human controller came and told me of a way to kill Visser Three and I tried to do just that./

Prince Arbron looked ready to do what humans call a face palm.

/Why did the attempt fail?/ he asked point blank. /The Visser left his host and escaped before we knew what had happened. I couldn't bring myself to kill the Andalite./ I answered.

I expected him to reprimand me for not killing the Visser's host but he just nodded. /Greater warriors have hesitated to kill him./ Prince Arbron told us.

I felt just a little better at the thought that I wasn't the only one to fail at the task.

"My Prince, we were given some disturbing news." Anjinnl began. "The Yeerks are infiltrating the Home World."

The silence that followed was so deep I thought that I could hear the heartbeats of everyone's hearts.

Prince Arbron was silent for what felt like hours.

/Are you sure?/ He asked, worry evident in his voice. /That's what he told us and I don't think he'd have wasted time telling us something that wasn't important./ I said.

Prince Arbron looked worn.

/Aximili, I want you to go and destroy the program tomorrow. If you didn't tell them about our friends don't. If the Yeerks are in fact doing silent invasion on the Home World then we must protect them at all cost./ Prince Arbron said.

I nodded.

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The next day I stood in the Observatory ready to contact the Home World. I needed tell them that Prince Arbron wanted to know when more ships were coming and how many. I also needed to tell them to pass on Prince Alloran's message.

Once I was done I erased the program.

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That's the end of eighth book. I think that I'm going to do the thirteenth book next.

Good Night!


	13. Part 5

So sorry! The other site I post on came back online and I didn't use my brain when I was trying to figure out where I had been on there. Then the sole reader there wanted to give others the chance to read and review but that doesn't seem to be happening.

Either way I am sorry that I haven't done anything until now.

Here's book thirteen!

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Hello, my name is Tobias.

Just so you know you are not getting my last name out of me so don't even try. Until the Yeerks are gone from Earth my last name will stay a secret from everyone but my friends.

When we met Arbron in that abandoned construction site we were just normal kids doing normal kid stuff in a normal place in America. Until that day I thought that thinking that I was hearing my father and other siblings talk when they weren't was one of the biggest problems that I had.

The next one after that was trying to beat Marco at whatever new videogame either he or I had: that all changed that night a year ago.

Now my biggest concerns are not getting killed or caught. It would spell doom on so many people if I was caught. My father and mother work with computer software. My dad is considered one of the best in the company; Arbron even told me that the Yeerks would find my dad useful in many ways.

My mom finds errors in software so that they can be fixed before going wherever they go.

Arbron is an Andalite Prince, a leader in their Military, he is the leader of our little group and Jake leads when Arbron is seeing how far the Yeerks have spread. Marco helps relieve stress by cracking jokes that range from hilarious to cringe worthy. There's Cassie, our expert in animals, Anjinnl, a female Andalite Computer Technician and Aximili, an Andalite Cadet, he was very awkward with pretending to be human but Anjinnl helped him fit in better; but not before threatening him with duct tape and smacking him on the head with books. And last but not least Rachel. Rachel is gung-ho about protecting Earth.

I have a crush on Rachel. She is smart, talented, really wants to help free Earth from the Yeerk Invasion and her being pretty is just the icing on the cake.

That day I had been glad to get out of the house. My mom had burnt the scrambled eggs without vegetables and Leilani doesn't like vegetables in her scrambled eggs she wouldn't eat the other ones.

Hoshi was complaining that Rio was running his hands through her hair and getting it dirty and to top matters off Hayden dumped her Cheerios on the floor.

And that was just breakfast.

When I was heading for the door to catch the bus Leilani was demanding to know who moved her sneakers; Hoshi was begging mom to wash her hair before it was time for her bus to arrive and Rio was upset because dad was telling him that he couldn't bring Indiana, our Japanese Spitz, to school for show and tell; and that went for Champ the German Shepard as well.

As I hurried for the street corner I laughed when I thought of my dad having to change his shirt because Hayden had milk and mashed Cheerios on her. But my mom was grateful that my dad was so willing to help with all of us. Apparently where my dad is from the fathers focus mostly on their sons and the mothers focused on the daughters. He said that it was superior complex.

Kids at school treat me differently because my dad is a so smart when it comes to electronics. He built the computers he uses in his office a home himself from other computers. Mixing and matching the best components until he had what he wanted.

He and Marco's dad are good friends and go way back. They went to college together and work on many of the same projects together.

I like school but after I became an Animorph I have just wanted to just go out looking for ways to strike against the Yeerks. But if I skipped school not only would it be suspicious my parents would ground me for the rest of my teenage years.

Recently I tried to talk my parents into doing home-school; it went over like a lead balloon. My mom works from home and my dad alternates between work and home. One of the points my mom brought up is that Leilani needs to have structure and going to school will do that for her.

Once the bus arrived at school I headed for my locker. If I had it my way I'd my way there would be a password on it instead of a stupid combination lock.

The hint would be the square root of five and the answer would be 'don't know, don't care'. It would be so amusing to see people trying to break into my locker by putting in the square root of five and fail.

By the way the square root of five is 2.23606797749979; or that's what my calculator said.

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At lunch I sat with Marco and Jake talking about the latest video games and consoles that were in the works.

I paused in mid-sentence when I smelt Rachel's perfume. It had a nice scent that I couldn't quite place.

I turned and smiled at the sight of her, Cassie and Anjinnl heading for us.

I slid over so that two of them could sit on the same side of the table as me. I must have had a goofy smile on my face when Rachel sat next to me because Marco smiled in a way that said 'oh, how cute'. Rachel must have kicked him from under the table because he winced.

"I have been named a Packard Foundation Outstanding Student." Rachel announced as she opened her lunchbox.

"Congratulations!" I told her with a smile.

"You deserve it." Cassie said.

"Yeah, you do," Marco began. "After all we are busy people these days." That just earned him another kick.

"You are a bright student." Anjinnl said with a gentle smile.

We were silent for a few moments as we started eating our various lunches.

"Bromly thinks he found several places that could be important at a later date." Anjinnl said after a few bites.

"He said that the car wash would be perfect for a fundraiser in the future as well as a few other places." She continued; sitting her sandwich down.

We nodded to show that we understood. Anjinnl was telling us about possible entrances to the Yeerk Pool. We had only gone down there once as cockroaches, nearly got eaten by a Taxxon, met an alien called 'the Ellimist', nearly got eaten again and then barely escaped with our hides intact. But we did learn never to morph into cockroaches while sneaking into the Yeerk Pool ever again.

The only thing that we got out of it was that we learned the location of the Kandrona and destroyed it.

We have foiled the Yeerks plans many times. They were planning to destroy the forest behind Cassie's place to find us but we threw a wrench in it; and learned that creatures with hive minds are not the ideal morphs. Take that Borg!

We sort of have a new ally the Chee; an old group of androids that have been on Earth so long that they could have helped build the pyramids.

There was some excitement not too long ago when we discovered that we could become allergic to DNA. We learned this the hard way when Rachel acquired a crocodile. For some time she couldn't control her morphing abilities

Arbron nearly tied Rachel down after we figured it out and a Chee took Rachel's place. Rachel wasn't thrilled.

After school Rachel and I morphed into our birds of prey morphs and headed for the car wash. We talked about our day and we laughed at the fact that Amelia James, the lead cheerleader, had made a fool out of herself in front of some nerdy kid.

/Tobias, we're not heading for the car wash./ Rachel said suddenly. I looked around and discovered that she was right. I was somewhat familiar with the area since my family camps in the area every so often.

I was about to try to head back in the direction of the car wash when a huge Oak Tree slid to one side. We paused and watched in confusion as two Hork-Bajir came out of a hole that the tree had covered.

We just flapped our wings to stay more or less in place as the pair looked around. /Did we just find an entrance to the Yeerk Pool?/ Rachel asked. /It appears that we did./ I answered.

Suddenly the sound of engines revving came from the hole. The two Hork-Bajir looked down then at each other before racing away.

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Once again sorry that I took so long, I fell into a slump while writing this and still not back up to snuff but by Monday I should be up and running again at full speed.


	14. Chapter 14

I am so sorry that I took so long with this.

I was trying to do NaNo and so I didn't really feel that I do both.

Long story short I fell way behind and for mine and others sanity I gave up on NaNo.

Then I needed to think about some things before I continued too much

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Rachel and I watched in confusion as the two Hork-Bajir fled the entrance to the Yeerk Pool. It made zero sense that they were running away.

Out of the hole about a dozen ATVs appeared and after a few moments followed after the pair of Hork-Bajir.

I could see both Dracon Beams and regular Earth weapons on them.

/They seem to be running away and the Controllers on the ATVs seem to be chasing them./ I said, stating what had to be the obvious.

/We should help them./ Rachel said.

I would have smiled if I was human.

/The enemy of my enemy is my friend./ I stated.

/Let's do it!/ Rachel said as we flew towards the Hork-Bajir.

/Hey you two, you have several Controllers coming your way!/ I told them through thought-speech.

They stumbled but continued to run.

/Need to go right to avoid them./ I told them.

They hesitated and I knew that I would have to guide them. I hadn't believed Arbron when he had told us that without the Yeerks in their head that the Hork-Bajir people were innocent and had simple minds. But this just went to show that Arbron had been right.

But they did go to the right and continued to run.

The Controllers fired their weapons at the pair of fleeing Hork-Bajir and missed.

/Tobias they might need more help than what we are giving them./ Rachel said and I had to agree with her. They must not completely understand so they would need a guide.

/Rachel stay up here and alert me of the movement of the Controllers./ I told her as I prepared to dive into the trees.

/Hey we are going to play a game./ I told the Hork-Bajir. /Follow the bird with the red./

The flight was nerve wrecking. I had to be so careful; one wrong move could either lead to my death or injury.

/Tobias, there's a chopper heading our way and you're coming up on an access road. There's Controllers on it with trucks./ Rachel reported.

/Hey, we need to go a little fast if we are to escape./ I told the two aliens that were following me.

An idea occurred to me. If they could swim they could escape.

/Hey, if you can swim slice that sapling coming up./ I told them.

The sapling was cut in half and I felt hope. There was a stream not too far away on the other side of the access road that we could use to help them escape.

We reached the road and I noted the trucks coming up fast

My heart would have been in my throat as I saw a truck move to cut them off.

The first Hork-Bajir just jumped over the truck while the second one Hork-Bajir, which had been slowing down for the past few minutes, tried to jump only to get sideswiped.'

The second Hork-Bajir was thrown a few feet and didn't move.

The trucks fishtailed in their hurry to stop.

The first Hork-Bajir paused and raced back to the second one.

"My kalashi!" it wailed at the second Hork-Bajir's side. "My wife!"

/You need to get out of there!/ I yelled as Controllers started to get out of the cabs of the trucks.

The Hork-Bajir looked at them before it-no- he raced for the woods.

It didn't take long to reach the stream and the Hork-Bajir disappeared under the surface.

/Wife, he said wife./ Rachel said after a few moments.

/He did./ I agreed.

xxxxxxx

About an hour later Rachel and I were in Cassie's Barn with our fellow Animorphs.

Rachel and I had led the Hork-Bajir in a cave and then we informed Arbron of the situation and he decided that we needed to discuss in earnest.

"Hork-Bajir have both males and females?" Marco asked, surprised.

"Of course Hork-Bajir have both males and females." Anjinnl answered. "All sentient or semi sentient species are either male or female. Only plants and a few "lesser" life forms are either asexual or have both male and female parts that can be brought out by chemical changes."

"Do you think that this is a trap?" Cassie asked. "I mean from Tobias and Rachel's story the Controllers gave chase and seemed to be willing to kill them."

Arbron tapped his human morph's fingers on bench.

"We will have to ask him and see what we can learn." Arbron said after a few moments.

"I have several questions." Marco said. "Do the females like to watch chick flicks or do the melt when they see a baby and do they scream when they see snakes and bugs?"

"'Scream when they see snakes and bugs?'" Cassie asked as she casually opened a drawer, reached and then tossed something at Marco.

Marco cried out in panic and jumped away as a harmless garter snake nearly fell on him.

"Get it away from me!" Marco yelped.

A few of us laughed as Cassie collected the snake and returned it to the drawer.

"Now that we are done acting like little children we need to go and speak to our friend in the cave." Arbron said; bringing us back to the matter at hand.

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We headed to the cave as a group all of us except Anjinnl, Aximili and Arbron were in morph. We had to make sure that it wasn't a trap.

Arbron was confidante that it wasn't but you could never be too careful.

Rachel was in her Bald Eagle morph. Cassie was an owl. Marco was in his gorilla morph. Jake was a tiger and I was in my hawk morph since the Hork-Bajir knew me as a bird.

I landed on a branch and waited for everyone to get ready.

/Hey,/ I called out to the Hork-Bajir in the cave. / I'm back and I brought friends./

I watched as he carefully started to move through the trees, fallen branches and brambles.

He stopped once he caught sight of Arbron, Anjinnl and Aximili.

There was a staring contest for about a minute.

"Andalites," he breathed sounding both nervous and angry.

/We heard that you escaped and wished to know if it is true./ Anjinnl stated.

"I have my own head; Jara Hamee alone in his head." The Hork-Bajir, Jara Hamee, declared.

He then did something that shocked all of us. He swiped one of his wrist blades at his head and a nasty looking gash opened.

/Gross!/ Marco groaned.

We watched in shock as Jara Hamee pulled part of it away to reveal what had to be his brain. I didn't see anything and then Jara Hamee pushed the wound back together and it scabbed over quite fast.

/You are alone./ Arbron awknowledged.

/Um, everyone,/ Cassie said. /It appears that Controllers are sort of heading our way./

/Yeah, they even have a Hork-Bajir with them./ Rachel reported.

/But it's still pretty light out./ Marco said.

/They must really want him back./ Arbron mused.

/What if one of us morphed into him and led the Yeerks away?/ I asked.

/That could work./ Arbron said. /There will be risks but it would be a good way to help get Jara Hamee to safety.

/I will do it./ I said.

There was some silence as Arbron mulled it over.

/Are you sure Tobias?/ he asked.

/I am sure besides I always wanted to be a weed whacker./ I answered.

/I will follow by air then./ Arbron stated.

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I purposely had Tobias morph into Jara Hamee for personal reasons.

Don't you all hate it when someone reminds/brings to your attention just how much this or that bothers you?


	15. Chapter 15

Sorry that I have taken so long in writing this. Certain things eluded me and I decided to give into my guilt and post what I have written and make this part four chapters long instead of three.

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I would have loved to be asleep in my bed but I had volunteered to take the first watch over Jara Hamee and the newly liberated Ket Halpak for the night. It helped that I felt no need to demorph after two hours.

It had been a little hair-raising and our favorite Visser was there in a human morph. I might not have escaped with Ket Halpak if Arbron hadn't set a bird off that lived in the clearing.

My new friends were hiding in a new cave since the last one had been compromised but once it was light we would be taking Jara Hamee and Ket Halpak to a valley that I half remembered from a family camping trip.

The valley was a pretty place and I wished that we had camped there for the night all those years ago.

I hoped that things were going well at my place; a Chee was taking my place until further notice and I hoped that he didn't damage my reputation with my siblings too much by saying the wrong things.

Like telling Rio that jumping on my parents' waterbed was unacceptable. Telling Hoshi that leaning too far off of the bunk bed was a bad idea. But most of all telling Leilani to turn the bass down on the stereo

I found myself remembering the time when Leilani's ear-buds came out of her iPod and Bon Jovi's 'It's my Life' blared through the house.

It would have been amusing if it wasn't at 1:00 am.

I spotted some movement and I turned to look at it.

I would have smiled if I had been human. It was Arbron and Aximili.

/I thought that Rachel and Cassie were going to take over./ I said.

/I decided that I needed to check in on you and our friends./ Arbron informed me.

/They seem to be alright. They do a lot of talking. Most of it seems like they are thankful that we rescued them and that they will be free./ I commented.

I was about to ask Aximili how his mother would have felt if she knew how late it was when I had an eerily sensation.

It was as if I wasn't seeing what was in front of me but somewhere else. I saw some Controllers moving through the trees with Taxxons. Something deep down told me that they were somehow using the Taxxons to find Jara Hamee and Ket Halpak.

/Arbron, can Taxxons track people?/ I asked, fearing the answer.

/Yes some can but they are few in number. My I ask why the sudden curiosity?/ Arbron asked.

/I think that they are somehow tracking our Hork-Bajir friends./ I answered.

/If they are then we need to discover if that is the case./ Arbron said as he started to morph into an owl.

I watched as he flew off, leaving Aximili and I alone with the two Hork-Bajir.

The two of us made some small talk, waiting for Arbron to return.

/Tobias,/ Arbron's voice said in my mind. /They are tracking us. Get Jara Hamee and Ket Halpak out of there. Aximili go and get the others. I will watch their movements./

/Yes sir!/ I said.

/Hey, we need to get out of here. The Yeerks are coming!/ I called out to my new friends.

I watched as Jara Hamee and Ket Halpak slowly came out of the cave.

I knew that they were nervous simply because it was dark.

/I know that it's dark but we need to get moving./

Once they were out I flew over and settled on Jara Hamee's front head blade. It would be the best way to lead them until it got light out.

xxxxx

As it got a little lighter out I called for a halt so we could get some rest.

At that moment I was wishing for my bed and a bowl of cereal, preferably Wheaties.

I told them that if they were hungry that they could get something to eat.

I watched as Jara Hamee used his blades to slice up some bark from a tree and eat the chucks that he got from

Jara Hamee offered me some but I declined by saying that I would eat later.

I am pretty sure that a bowl of Wheaties was calling my name; and if that wasn't the case than it was Honey-Nut Cheerios.

Finally I told them that we needed to get moving again.

We had been traveling for twentyish minutes when I heard something.

/Tobias,/ Arbron's voice said. /We're coming!/

A minute later Aximili came into view with Anjinnl as a Black Panther at his side. Aximili had a backpack that most likely had at least clothes and sneakers if not some food as well.

/Aximili, please tell me that there are granola bars in that backpack./ I almost begged.

/There are granola bars in here for you and the others./ He answered.

It took a lot of willpower not to demorph then and there and feast on granola bars.

/There's also juice and water./ Anjinnl added.

Now I really wanted to demorph.

A few minutes later I heard the others coming as birds.

I knew something was wrong the moment they landed.

One of the Ospreys was shaking in a manner that I didn't like at all.

/Cassie?/ I asked.

/Yes?/ she answered shakily.

/Are you alright?/ I asked.

/I don't remember how long I have been in morph./ She answered with fear.

Cassie feels the need to demorph shortly after two hours in morph. The longer she tries to stay in morph the more she struggles with pain and the desire to demorph

I had a bad feeling about this.

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A funny thing is that I could sleep to Bon Jovi. I haven't tried it yet but I find it soothing. And you are looking at me strange.


	16. Chapter 16

Sorry that I took my sweet time writing this. One excuse I have is that my computer has an issue with overheating so if I have a document up and it overheats it shuts down and I lose what wasn't saved. So it was in the shop for a few days and I warred with myself for a few other days but finally here's the last chapter of Part 5!

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/Jara Hamee, Ket Halpak, what would you do if the Yeerks tried to retake you?/ Arbron asked.

"Free or dead!" Jara Hamee yelled.

"Free or dead!" Ket Halpak agreed.

/Give me liberty or give me death./ Jake said.

/Patrick Henry,/ I supplied.

/You can demorph./ Arbron said. /If we are to help them then we must reveal our true forms to them./ He told us.

I landed and pictured myself.

I felt myself changing and within moments I was myself again.

When I was finished Aximili was holding a box of granola bars in his hands.

Without thinking I snatched the box out of his hands and pawed through the box before I discovered that they were all the same type.

Sighing I selected one and handed the box to Jake.

It was then that I noticed that Jara Hamee and Ket Halpak were laughing.

"You are human!" Jara Hamee said between laughs.

"Most of us yes." Cassie said as she walked on unsteady legs over to Rachel; who now had the box of granola bars.

"Yeerks wrong then." Ket Halpak stated.

"Yup, they are wrong." Rachel stated as she pulled a pair of pants out of the pack that Aximili had been carrying along with a pair of sneakers.

All of us humans quickly gathered around the pack and retrieved pants and sneakers. I recognized a pair as mine and quickly retrieved them.

After I pulled them on I snatched up my beat up pair of sneakers. The more worn in a pair of sneakers are the more comfortable they are.

"We picked them up from your place." Jake explained. "We figured that it would be better than wandering around in our morphing outfits."

I would have done a lot to get some sleep but we had to get moving.

/I will keep an eye on things up here./ Arbron informed us.

/Aximili, Anjinnl, morph into your human morphs. The fewer humans that see multiple aliens that better./

Anjinnl and Aximili morphed and also retrieved clothes from the pack before Jake picked it up.

"Everyone ready?" I asked as I double checked my laces.

"Alright let's go."

I led everyone through the woods; heading for the valley that I knew was there. My family had taken a different way but I was sure without a shadow of a doubt that I could find it going this way.

Small talk started mostly about school and life at home.

Rachel talked about his sisters Jordan and Sara. She really loves them even if she claims otherwise.

Cassie was talking about several animals at the clinic and how their progress was coming.

Jake was talking about a test he nearly failed.

Marco started talking about video games.

"I nearly have all the Harry Potter games beaten." He told us. "They are pretty simple compared to others."

Silence fell again for a few moments and I was enjoying it.

"It's too quiet out here." Marco suddenly commented.

"That's because you are used to the hustle and bustle of the city." Anjinnl told him. "I like it out here with the birds and the trees. Reminds me a little of my home."

"And the air is clean and fresh." Cassie added. "We are going to be better off getting some good fresh air and exercise."

"Well I am getting tired of walking." Marco said.

"Well you know what you got to do Marco?" Rachel asked.

"No, I don't." Macro answered.

"Just keep walking, just keep walking. What do we do we walk. Oh how I love to walk!" Rachel said doing a decent imitation of Dory from Finding Nemo.

Everyone except Marco laughed.

"It's not funny!" he snapped.

/I need someone else up here to help patrol./ Arbron called down to us.

"I will since I know where we are going." I called up before shedding my jeans and sneakers.

I pictured the Red tail Hawk and felt my body change.

In a few moments I took to the sky.

I kept on the lookout for Yeerk activity and now and then spotted a controller on the ground but they were far enough from everyone else that they wouldn't pose a huge problem.

Then I saw smoke; too much smoke to be a simple fire. Those blasted Yeerks had created a forest fire!

For some reason I stayed in the area and noticed a ravine.

I found an idea forming in my brain and I quickly headed back to everyone else.

When I arrived they had all morphed into their battle morphs.

/They started a forest fire./ I informed everyone as I landed.

/We know./ Arbron stated

/I don't think the Yeerks care if they take Jara Hamee and Ket Halpak dead or alive./ I told them.

/Sounds like you have an idea./ Arbron stated.

I mentally told a deep breath and related my plan to everyone.

Xxxxxxx

I kept shaking my head. I still couldn't believe that my plan had worked.

My plan had involved someone (not Marco) morphing Ket Halpak and then me morphing Jara Hamee. We then ran for the ravine and threw ourselves off. Marco would be waiting on an alcove for us. He would then catch us as we fell and pull us in. The real Jara Hamee and Ket Halpak would play dead at the bottom of the ravine and everyone else in wolf morphs would gather around them and pretend to eat them.

I was tired but the sight of the valley raised my spirits. It was more beautiful then I imagined.

Jara Hamee and Ket Halpak looked around and seemed to nod with approval.

"Good place for the Kawatnoj." Jara Hamee stated.

"Yes, good place." Ket Halpak agreed.

"What is a Kawatnoj?" Cassie asked; curious.

"Kawatnoj small Jara Hamee or Ket Halpak." Ket Halpak explained happily.

"Children," Rachel stated, "they are going to be parents."

/One the first to be born free in a long time; right Prince Arbron?/ Anjinnl asked.

/Yes, as far as my knowledge goes./ Arbron agreed.

"Wow!" Jake said.

"I don't know about any of you guys but I am not going to do any babysitting for them." Marco stated.

"Where's your sense of adventure Marco?" I asked him.

"I left it back home with my comic books." He answered flatly.

Xxxxxx

I calmly walked into my house and was greeted by Champ. I smiled and patted his head before walking to the living room.

I nearly laughed at the sight of Rio showing off how well he could play the dancing game while Hoshi glared at him and Leilani was trying to follow the directions from the look of things.

I shook my head and headed for my father's office,

I found my father with that headset on with Hayden in his lap. I was surprised that Hayden wasn't playing with the cord seeing that she did that a lot. I headed in and saw that my father looked sad.

"What are you listening to?" I asked.

My dad jerked a bit. He obviously hadn't heard me.

"Are you listening to the Vulcans or Klingons talking?" I asked teasing.

Something flickered in my dad's eyes.

"Vulcans and Klingons don't exist Tobias and you know it." He stated.

Hayden said something about Vulcans with a smile.

"So," my dad said as he removed the headset, 'how has your day been?"

I was slightly tempted to tell him that I had spent the day with my friends and aliens in the woods. That I had purposely jumped off a cliff to fool other aliens into thinking that my new friends were dead. But that would put everyone in danger.

"It's been good." I replied. "I hope that my Doritos are still where I left them."

"They should be." My dad's the responded with a grin.

We reached the kitchen and I opened the fridge and retrieved a Sprite and gave my dad the Cranberry-Grape Juice.

I watched as my dad filled a Sippy Cup and then large glass of the juice. I found myself wondering again where my dad came from and more about his family. Yeah, he said he ran away from home when he was about my age but that was just about it. I didn't know my parental grandparents names or where they lived.

I remembered how if I died on a mission before we had met the Chee how I would have just vanished into thin air. Only my friends would know what happened to me. Now a Chee could take my place.

"Dad?" I asked, as I opened the Doritos, "how would you and mom feel if I just disappeared and you never heard from me again?"

"You're mother and I would be worried out of our minds and start searching for you." My dad answered as he snagged chip from the bag.

"Do you think that your parents are worried about you?" I couldn't stop the question from leaving my mouth.

My dad looked pained but he didn't look away.

"My parents most likely believe that I am dead." He stated. "When I left home it a dangerous time but I had to leave; I couldn't stay."

I felt bad that I had drudged up bad memories for my dad.

"So, how's your work coming?" I asked; changing the subject as I took a sip of my Sprite.

"You have either an uncle or aunt." My dad suddenly said, ignoring my question. "I have always wondered if I had a little brother or sister."

"You could try facebook." I suggested.

My dad smiled a bit. "They wouldn't be on facebook." He told me.

"Alan?" my mom called from the living room. "The children want to know if it's time to watch Willow."

My dad looked at the stove and smiled.

"I'll be there in a few minutes." He called back as he prepared the popcorn popper and started to pour a few bags of chips into bowls.

I grabbed some sodas from the fridge and headed for the living room.

I vowed once again to protect every member of my family. I was the only one that could.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

As of now I am considering doing the 15th book next. It will feature Anjinnl revealing to the others what she has learned about her father.

It has to happen sooner or later; preferably sooner than later.


	17. Part 6

Sorry that I took my sweet time.

I have anxiety and depression and treat them with medication which is in the middle of being changed for something better and then my Grandmother died. Between all of this I was debating a few things which worked out

xxxxxxxx

Hi, Marco here.

I'd give you the full run down again but I find that boring when I read a series and in _every_ single book the author gives a full rundown of what's going on.

Alien parasites called Yeerks are invading Earth. They want to enslave by taking over our bodies and making them our own.

Aliens called Andalites are fighting the Yeerks and got their butts handed to them during the battle over Earth.

Right now only eight of us, five humans and three Andalites, are fighting them.

Prince Arbron is the leader of our group. Jake is Arbron's second. Rachel is gung-ho about saving the planet. Anjinnl is our computer expert with Aximili as her helper; they are quite the team since she stopped hitting Ax on the head with books. Cassie is a nature lover which makes her our animal expert. Tobias is a little odd but he is observant. I am the joker of the group.

Crap, I think I just gave you a really big rundown.

Anyway, I was minding my own business at the Mall with my fellow Animorphs. Ax was eyeing Anji's bag of Doritos, Rachel was looking at some fliers for some of the clothing stores, Cassie was looking, and most likely, bored, Bromley was just looking around and Tobias, Jake and I were discussing the upcoming release of the newest video games.

I glanced around and saw our informant Erek King standing near a stand that had a map of the locations of all the stores in the mall.

I gently nudged Jake who tapped Bromley.

The three of us looked at Erek and he jerked his head slightly to the side. He needed to speak to us.

"Tobias, keep an eye on Max." Bromley whispered.

Ax _loves_ sugary foods so you have to keep an eye on him because he gets hyper. It's funny since Anji can't stand food that has too much sugar.

Rachel grabbed Cassie's arm and dragged her off with Anji following on their heels. Rachel was saying something about a sale at such and such store. Tobias snagged Ax and directed him towards one of the arcades.

With that Jake, Bromley and I walked nonchalantly towards Erek.

This had to be big if Erek wanted to speak to us.

One thing I should tell you is that Erek is an android that is so old that he and his fellow androids watched as the Egyptians built the pyramids. Actually he's older than that, much older. The Chee were created by an alien race that was destroyed. Since the Chee are peaceful they can't fight with us but they can and will inform us of Yeerk activity they think we should know about.

This had to be one of those times.

Once we were close the air shimmered slightly around us and Erek was showing his true form: an anamorphic dog.

"As far as anyone is concerned we are talking about a science test." Erek stated.

The three of us nodded.

"The Yeerks are planning something big and it has something to do with Leerans." Erek stated.

"Leerans at physic and most of their planet is covered by water; how do they plan on doing this?" Bromley asked.

"All I know is that whatever they are planning is taking place in the waters around Royan Island and that Visser One is coming to look into the operation." Erek said.

I felt my gut twist. Could I do something that could get my mother killed? I honestly didn't want to know but we had to at least look into this. Maybe she would leave before we found and destroyed whatever the Yeerks were doing.

I saw Erek look at me for a second before I nodded.

With that Bromley, Jake and I rejoined the throng of people in the Mall.

Jake looked at me with concern but didn't say anything. He didn't need to. I knew that he wanted to know how I felt about this.

I could do this.

xxxxx

"Leerans are amphibious and sentient beings native to Leera. I have never personally met one since they are not allowed on our home world or any of our ships or military bases. The reason for this is that they are physic and can read minds at close range. It would be _very_ dangerous for others to know our strategies, how to work our technology and where all of our bases are." Arbron told us in the woods behind Cassie's place.

"So if we get too close to them they will know that we aren't Andalites in morph but humans and they could learn our names and where we live?" Tobias asked.

I understood Tobias's worry. His father and mother work with computers. According to my dad Alan, Tobias's dad, has turned down many opportunities; government project opportunities. Alan has claimed that they either don't interest him or that someone else should take them.

Heck, I was worried about my dad. I had already lost my mom to them and I would rather be shredded by a Hork-Bajir then lose my father.

"Because Leerans are physic they would also know the true intentions of the Yeerks and know who are Controllers." Arbron continued. "What the Yeerks are planning can't be good.

"Tomorrow we are going to go to Royan Island and look around." Arbron finished.

Xxxxxxxx

The next day we flew in seagull morph towards the island that was off the mainland.

/So, who lives on Royan Island?/ Rachel asked as we headed to the dark splotch on the horizon. /The Royan Family?/

/According to the guidebook some guy named Royan was a bootlegger during the 1920s. It was a base of operations if you will. Some rich people live there now./ I said.

When we arrived I looked at the house and the stuff around it. These people were filthy rich and maybe then some.

/I bet these guys are so rich that they have politicians in their pockets./ I grumbled.

/I wonder if Yeerks have other Yeerks in their pockets./ Anji mused.

/I didn't know that the Yeerks have a monetary system./ I said.

/They don't./ Anji answered. /But pull some strings here and there. Make sure that certain Yeerks are assigned to this or that Host. My brother told me that he sees something like that in his work; minus the Host thing of course. This or that scientist or intern will be favored over another for different reasons./

/We need to focus on the matter at hand./ Arbron stated. /We can talk politics another time./

We landed on a beach away from the prying eyes of the guards around the house demorphed.

Then walking across sharp rocks we made our way into the ocean to morph. For the record I _hate_ sharp things on my feet. It's unpleasant and you could break something and/or injure yourself if you fell down.

Besides, beaches should have sand on them with the occasional rock.

After we morphed Anjinnl and Aximili moved put some space between us and them. We hadn't thought to visit the Gardens in the middle of the night so Ax and Anji could acquire dolphins but since they had shark morphs everyone figured that it would be no big deal.

We swam through the waters just looking for anything that could be out of the ordinary.

/I see some hammerhead sharks up ahead./ Cassie reported. /They seem to be guarding something./

/Can the Yeerks infest sharks?/ Rachel asked; she sounded worried and truth be told I was worried with her.

/I doubt it./ Aximili said. /From what I read on them they are not intelligent and they are driven by instinct./

/They seem to be similar to Taxxons in the respect that if there is blood there is a feeding frenzy./ Anjinnl commented. /But the Yeerks in the past show that they want as sentient as possible Hosts. There are fewer instincts to feel that way./

As we swam closer to the area the sharks were they seemed to get agitated.

/That appears to be a hologram behind them./ Arbron stated.

/So there is something going on down here./ Rachel said.

As we swam closer the sharks started to swim towards us.

/Guys, I don't think the sharks are happy to see us./ I said nervously.

It was about then that the sharks attacked us.

It was weird; they ignored Aximili and Anjinnl when they came over to help and they completely ignored one of their buddies when he was injured. There was blood in the water!

Suddenly there was the sound of engines and the sharks almost scattered.

/Why are they running?/ Cassie asked.

It was then that we saw it: a nearly completely transparent submarine. The sharks seemed to have decided that they were to escort it.

We watched as it passed not too far from us.

I looked at the Bridge and noted that most of the aliens on the Bridge were familiar except for one. It looked frog like and looked slightly like a catfish as far as the whiskers at the mouth were concerned. It was also yellow.

/A Leeran,/ Arbron whispered to us.

I always wondered what it had to be like for people in sci-fi stuff to know that there was a mind reader in the room with them; knowing that their thoughts weren't private. Now I know how they felt knowing that some yards away was an alien that could read my mind the same way I read a book.

I then noticed the chair that the Leeran was standing next to. It reminded me of Captain Kirk's Chair. The occupant of said chair was facing away from us but I knew that it wasn't the esteemed Captain James T. Kirk in that chair.

The chair suddenly turned; revealing occupant to me my mother: Visser One.

_Hi mom._ I thought silently.

I still get angry at night just thinking how the Yeerks ruined the lives of everyone in my family.

/Visser One; the main creep is back./ Rachel whispered; angry.

/Actually the Council of the Thirteen and the Yeerk Emperor would be the "main creeps"./ Anjinnl commented.

/We will retreat for now and return when we have a better idea what to expect./ Arbron ordered.

I was all too happy to comply.

As we swam away I realized that I had never told Arbron about my mother being the Host of Visser One.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

The piece on politics just came out and I think it works great since near the end Vissers One and Three get in that argument and Marco guesses that politics must be the same everywhere.


	18. Chapter 18

Sorry that I have been absent for a bit. But I am now better. :)

xxxxxxxxxxx

It was a few days after we had gone to Royan Island and we were gathered at the meadow where Arbron, Ax and Anji were staying. We were sitting in chairs in their shelter trying to think of ways to get into the new base and put a stop to their little operation; the only option we felt we had was to morph into sharks, hammerheads to be exact, and see if we could enter the compound that way.

I had considered telling Arbron about Visser One using my mother as a Host but I dismissed it. I was fairly certain that he would bench me for the remainder of the mission and I felt that we needed everyone for this one.

"As everyone here knows the Gardens doesn't have sharks, at least not yet." Cassie commented to us as she flipped through her biology book.

"But there should be some at that aquarium across town, the one that is really expense." Jake commented.

"Ocean World?" Tobias asked.

Jake nodded.

"Oh they have sharks all right. My family went there on a family trip last month and none of us liked parts of it. Honestly who thought it would be a good idea to have a tunnel where not only is there water on either side of you but above your head as well in several places." Tobias commented.

"Do they have hammerheads?" Arbron asks.

"Yep," Tobias responds as he checks the time on his watch. "I got to go; I told my mom that I'd help her with a surprise for my dad." He said as he stood and put his school stuff back into his backpack.

As if on cue Jake, Cassie and Rachel started to pack their school things.

I looked at my math homework and frowned. I was struggling with some of the stuff. My dad was a little busy so I didn't want to ask him for help and asking Tobias for help on math was like asking for Stephen Hawking to explain black holes. I turned to Anji and knew that I had my answer.

"Anji?" I called out.

Anji turned from her seat at one of the tables to look at me.

"I'm having a hard time with some of the new math concepts and math comes really easy for you so can you help me with my math homework?" I asked, hoping that I didn't sound like a boy desperate for a date or something since I wasn't.

"If you are willing to help with my history homework we have a deal." She answered.

"I'll help you." I agreed.

With that Anji gathered her math and history homework and we headed for my place.

Since my dad and I now live in a house I feel leagues better inviting the others over for different things. Best of all we don't have to worry about being overheard by neighbors and it's clean.

As we walked towards the front door I retrieved my keychain from my pants pocket, turned off the alarm and unlocked the door.

We dropped our backpacks off next to the couch and I headed into the kitchen to grab the fruit bowl since Anji shouldn't have any more junk food.

"Do you like going to school here?" I asked Anji as I set the fruit bowl on the coffee table in front of the main couch.

Anji looked at me, puzzled. "Why do you ask?"

"It's just that Max complains a lot about how primitive, backwards or incorrect what we learn in school is but you seem to enjoy going to school so I was just curious." I told her.

Anji sighed.

"I enjoyed school back home but the children were never nice to me. For a long time I never understood the silent hatred and the cruelty of the male students and how the female one didn't want to be my friend. I thought that some of it might be that I was talented but they would taunt me with personal Thought Speech so they could lie if I accused them of being cruel to me. I was once taunted by the son of a well-respected commander. He was the boldest; he only excluded the teacher from the taunts he threw at me." Anji paused in her story; her lips quirked slightly as if amused by something. "He wasn't as careful as he thought he was. He didn't take into consideration of anyone entering the room since the door was behind us and all eyes needed to be forward and his Thought Speech was in a certain radius. My brother, Kilipan, came to get me along with a school official and an officer. The idiot didn't even see my brother coming and Tilopid prided himself to be a great warrior."

Anji paused again apparently lost in her memories.

"Kilipan did get in some trouble but since he was defending his sister when no one else was it was over looked for the most part. He should have been a warrior not a scientist.

"School is better here. No one taunts me or anything, some even like the fact that I am smart." Anji finished.

I felt bad that I had drudged up painful memories.

Personally I was mad that nothing seemed to have been done to curb the cruelty she had dealt with.

I quickly pulled out my math homework so we could get going on the reason we were here.

We spent nearly an hour working on math problems then switching to history every so often for something different.

Finally Anji declared a short break.

I smiled and grabbed the TV remote and started to flip through the channels.

I stopped on a channel featuring some really stupid show and started to peel my orange.

"Is the woman your mother?" Anji's voice asked.

I jerked my head up and stared at Anji who was looking at a picture of my parents. I had a moment of panic; worried that she would recognize her as the Host to Visser One but Anji just seemed curious.

"Yeah, that's my mom." I told her; watching her reaction.

"She's beautiful." Anji stated.

I was glad that she left out the comment that my mom was beauty by human standards.

"Was your dad handsome by your peoples' standards?" I asked, remembering that her father was dead as well.

Anji jerked slightly, her eyes wide with shock.

Finally she turned to face me.

"Yes, everyone considered him to be well built and I was told he had a sense of humor."

"Maybe I would have liked him." I commented as I switched the channel to something less annoying.

Anji looked surprised before she gave me a shaky smile.

"Maybe you two would have gotten along.

A few moments later Anji came back to the coffee table and picked up the history book. I took the hint and turned off the TV.

I silently cursed the Yeerks for destroying our families. They took my mother and deprived Anji of having a father.

xxxxx

We decided to go to Ocean World in the middle of the night even though most of us could get the morph when they allowed us to pet the sharks. It would be so much easier and less stress if we snuck in at night to get the hammerhead shark morph.

We had already dodged several guards and at least I was questioning the wisdom of doing it under the cover of darkness.

None of us dared to speak just in case we alerted a nearby guard.

Finally we found ourselves in a passage way like Tobias had described: glass walls on both your left and right and glass above. Yes I know that it really isn't glass but it looks and can sound like it. The worst part was that it was really long and we could see sharks on the other side.

I looked at Anji and she looked ready to have a panic attack.

Suddenly we saw the beams of flashlights from around the end of tunnel. There was nowhere for us to hide and Anji, Max and Arbron were themselves.

"We need to break the glass." I whispered before I could stop myself.

Arbron looked at the glass then nodded.

/Everyone get ready to morph. Aximili, Anjinnl I am going to slash at the walls and I want the two of you to kick them as hard as you can./ He ordered.

Arbron swung his tail and the blade cut deep into whatever it's called but Anji didn't have to kick it too hard for it to break so we were unprepared for the wave. And to make things worse part of the roof gave away.

The water swept us down the corridor and one of the walls started to give away.

I was quickly separated from everyone else and the fear that I would drown occupied my thoughts as I was pushed around by the water.

Something rough brushed against my leg when the water slowed.

I nearly panicked on the spot at the sight of a shark fin.

I forced myself to calm down so it wouldn't attack me but that didn't mean that I liked something touching me.

After a few more deep breaths I looked to see what kind of shark it was. I nearly laughed when I saw that it was a hammerhead; just the kind we were looking for.

Carefully I moved over to it. Once I was near enough to touch it I did and acquired it.

A moment later I heard the sound of something swimming in the water. I turned and saw that it was a dolphin.

/It's just me Marco./ Cassie told me.

"I found us a hammerhead shark." I told her.

/Follow me if you can./ She said.

It was a little awkward pulling the shark and Cassie ended up having to demorph and I morphing into a dolphin so she could acquire it and keep it calm.

After what felt like forever we arrived where everyone else was.

Everyone else got back in to acquire the hammerhead and then we went home. I collapsed on my bed completely drained from the day.

In a few days we would return to Royan Island and learn what the Yeerks were up to.

xxxxxxxxxxssss

Wow, I ran the gauntlet.

I had considered a friendship between Marco and Anjinnl and decided to give it a shot. I originally didn't have the scene with Anji and Marco at his place but I tried and liked it.

Early Wednesday I am going with my mom to Idaho to visit my sister Red. The Internet connection might not be the greatest but I will endeavor to get updates done.


	19. Chapter 19

I know that this is long but I had a lot of fun with one part and wasn't sure if I could cut any of it.

xxxxxxxxxx

A few days later we were back on Royan Island. I wasn't really ready but I might never been ready.

We all walked into the ocean and started to morph.

I don't know what I was expected for instincts but they were simple and complex. I wasn't hungry but I was interested in the seascape; I was curious if it was a good hunting place.

I did feel a little threatened by the others in morph.

It was then that I heard a noise; a noise that attracted me.

/Does anyone hear a noise that they want to follow?/ Rachel asked.

Everyone answered yes and at Arbron's direction we started swimming towards it. It didn't take us long to see that it was coming from the area where we had run into the 'super' sharks.

/I don't understand why I didn't hear the noise last time we were here./ Max commented.

/They might not have been trying to get more sharks when we here last time./ Anji mused.

/The Yeerks must somehow be modifying the sharks to get them to do what they want./ Arbron commented as we swam passed the four sharks guarding the entrance area.

Now that we were behind the sharks we could see what was behind the hologram. There were three hatches of varying sizes and windows that as we got closer I could make out what appeared to be offices.

Only one of the hatches was open and that was the smallest one; the sound was coming from it too.

/I have a bad feeling about this./ I commented before I could stop myself.

/Ditto,/ Tobias said.

/I don't like it either./ Arbron told us. /Once we are inside we will demorph./

We swam through the hatch but before I could even start to look for a place to go and demorph metal hands grabbed me and pulled me into the air.

I cried out it panic and I could hear everyone else crying out as well.

The metal hands were more like the claws you see in those machines where you insert money and try to get some sort of prize.

The shark instincts didn't like being out of the air and frankly I didn't like it either.

I could sort of make out windows and figures behind them that could only be Controllers operating the machinery.

/No one demorph./ Arbron ordered. /It appears that Controllers are watching./

Finally the claws put me on a conveyer belt that was partially submerged in water but blocked in at the sides.

The shark was panicked and so was I.

Ahead of me was one of my friends and they were heading towards a huge needle.

/Ouch!/ Cassie cried out as the needle disappeared into the side of her morph's head.

/Guys,/ she called out, /there's a needle and it just injected me with some sort of numbing agent and there's something coming up./ Cassie reported.

/Great I hate going to the dentist./ I grumbled.

/I bet you just don't like having to not talk./ Rachel muttered.

/I don't like going to the dentist either./ Tobias told us. /I just don't like other people's fingers in my mouth./

At that moment I was moved to the needle and I watched as it sank into me. I cried out and felt the area going numb.

/Everyone they are using some sort of laser drill to make a hole in me./ Cassie report.

She was right; I could see the laser and the smoke it was causing.

/The Yeerks can't be thinking about infesting sharks./ Arbron commented. /Even though they are similar in some respects to Taxxons they think too simply too much of the time. Not enough sentience to be of much use./

/Could they be trying to somehow control the sharks Prince Arbron?/ Anji asked. /I remember hearing about using sounds to control simpler creatures./

/Possible./ Arbron commented.

I reached the laser and it too made a hole in me.

/Sharks would be useful to the Yeerks trying to take Leera if the Leerans can't read their intentions./ He continued to muse.

I watched as a robotic hand dropped something small either on Cassie or into the hole the laser drill had made.

/The machine just dropped something into the hole the laser created./ Cassie reported.

The belt moved again and I heard a light splash as Cassie apparently hit deep water.

/I'm okay but this new area isn't very big./ She reported just before metal claws grabbed her and carried her off.

The machine then dropped whatever it was into the hole and soon I too was dumped into the small space before being carted off by metal claws.

I was dumped in an area that reminded me of a harbor or a marina. There were several docking areas; one had that almost transparent submarine parked next to it. But at least we could demorph then morph into something else.

As we waited for the others I noted that something seemed different about how the shark thought and felt. At first it had dismissed the area as useless for finding food and moving on but now it was curious if food would could later.

/Something isn't right./ I commented to Cassie.

/I know./ She replied.

/Arbron something isn't right./ Cassie said once everyone was in the area with us. /It's as if the shark is smarter than it was before. The other senses are also better than they were./

/Prince Arbron could this be an attempt to infest sharks?/ Max asked.

/If they are trying to make sharks smarter and enhance their other senses then it would stand to reason that the Yeerks wish to use the sharks as Controllers instead of somehow controlling them./ Arbron stated.

/I doubt these devices would allow us to morph any of our smaller creatures like flies./ Anji informed us. /Our birds of prey morphs just might be the right size to not create trouble with it but still get us around./

/Good then Marco, Tobias, Aximili and Anjinnl I want the four of you to look for a way to get into the controls of the base. Once you get inside find a way to destroy the devices and the base./ Arbron ordered.

/Yes Prince Arbron./ Max and Anji said in near unison.

/Everyone else is with me. We will try to distract the Yeerks they get to work./ Arbron continued.

Slowly Tobias, Max, Anji and I swam to a dock so Tobias and I could climb up once we demorphed and then Max and Anji could then climb up once they morphed into humans.

Once Max and Anji joined us on the dock we looked around.

"This place is huge; we might be better off morphing into birds to fly around a bit." Anji commented.

"I agree." Max said.

We made our way to an empty room and morphed into our birds of prey morphs. Tobias into a red tailed hawk, Max into a Northern Harrier, Anji into a Northern Goshawk and I into an Osprey.

We started flying only to realize our mistake a few minutes later.

/We need to land and walk around as humans./ Tobias said as we struggled to fly down corridors.

It didn't take us long to find a room but between poor flying conditions and the fact that the room was rather dark we all crashed into something. Max hit a desk, Tobias hit another desk but landed in a trash can, Anji hit something and I hit a wall.

I was stunned for a moment and guessed that everyone had to be as well.

/Gross!/ Tobias grumbled from the trash can. /A banana peel and an apple core./

/I think I injured my morph./ Max commented from the floor.

/I think I did as well./ I informed them. /Anji?/ I called out after she didn't say anything.

/Mother I didn't use Kilipan's computer to hack the school's computers to mess with any of my classmates' tests./ Anji's voice called out sounding a little dazed but mostly upset. /They are always saying that the school's system is too well made to allow tampering to that level./

I realized that Anji had hit her head so hard she was reliving a memory.

/Mother, please believe me. I wouldn't do something like that even though they say horrible things about father./ Anji sounded very upset.

/Anji,/ I called out.

/Wha- Marco?/ Anji asked slowly.

/Anji you hit something pretty hard./ I told her.

/I remember hitting something./ She said slowly. /For a moment I thought I was back home talking with my mother./

Once we cleared our heads a bit we demorphed. We searched the office but didn't find a computer that we could use; only a laptop that didn't connect to the Yeerks' network.

/I hope that the owner won't mind too much that I messed up their perfect score on the highest difficulty of spider solitaire./ Anji said after she closed the laptop.

In a few minutes both her and Max were in their human morphs and we borrowed some sneakers with no intent of returning them.

Slowly we made our way down some corridors trying to act like we belonged in the base. We would peer into the rooms that were there in irregular intervals but found nothing useful.

After a minute we came to a corridor that branched off into two different directions.

"We should split up." I whispered. "Anji and I will search the rooms to the left. Tobias, you and Max search the rooms to the right."

Tobias nodded and led Max down the right corridor and Anji and I headed down the left one.

We searched a few rooms before we heard a strange sound and guessed that Arbron and the others must have started a distraction.

I was about to give up when we came to a door with a strange symbol on it. It reminded me of the seal for the President of the United States or for another such position.

"Someone's office?" I asked Anji softly.

"Looks like it." She commented just as softly.

I pressed the button next to the door just in case someone was in it. We couldn't afford to just walk in the room if someone was already inside. I guess that Anji and I could pretend to be making out but I was pretty sure that not only does that work in the movies but I am sure Anji and I were too young to completely fool Controllers into believing we were in a relationship that was that serious.

The door opened revealing a large chair facing away from the door with a desk in front of it.

/They would already be dead if we were assassins./ Anji silently sent me; I nodded in agreement.

"Enter." A cold but familiar voice ordered; disrupting any other thoughts that I might have had.

Anji walked into the room and I followed after her. The door closed behind us; trapping us in the room.

Anji and I walked around the chair to the front of the desk and came face to face with my mother; Visser One.

Visser One fixed us with an icy glare; obviously upset.

"I asked for some new technicians and was told that I'd get four and I see only two of you. Where are the others?" She demanded coldly.

I worked my mouth, not daring to look at Anji.

"I believe they were held up ma'am." Anji spoke softly; lying.

"I think I heard that Visser Three killed them for something or other." I lied as well with not the amount of confidence I would have liked.

It was a stupid lie but a believable one from what I had seen and heard about Visser Three's policy.

"I could find out ma'am." Anji offered trying to sound helpful.

Visser One shook her head, the whole time looking annoyed.

"If that clown Visser Three thinks that by getting this project backed up will make me look bad in the eyes of the Council of Thirteen he is mistaken." She snapped.

"This project will succeed and we will take Leera." Visser One continued.

"Yes Visser." Anji and I said in unison.

It was then that Visser One smiled cruelly.

"You do know that your Host is the son on my Host." She spoke.

I nodded. "Yes Visser." I almost whispered.

/I won't tell anyone./ Anji whispered in my head and I had to suppress a thankful smile directed at her.

"Keep better control of your Host." She snapped before looking at Anji glaring at her. "You also could have better control of your Host as well."

Visser One smiled again and tapped the side of my mother's head.

"My Host is making an awful noise and fighting for control but as you can see I am in complete control." She stated flatly and I could tell that the Yeerk spoke the truth.

"We have been under a lot of stress Visser." Anji spoke respectfully. "Hosts are harder to control when you have many things calling for your attention and many worries; we will make time to rest, relax and visit a Yeerk Pool ASAP."

Visser One looked like she was about to say something when the roars of a tiger and a leopard echoed in the air.

Anji and I turned in the direction of the noise along with Visser One.

"Sounds like the stupid Andalites are here and causing trouble." She said in annoyance.

Visser One stood in one smooth motion. "I will go and see what is being done. You two get to your posts."

She fluffed my mother's hair a little like my mom used to before she went out in public, it looked right but so wrong at the same time, and then Visser One was gone.

I put my hands on the desk and took a deep, steadying breath. I didn't want to look at Anji.

Finally I looked at her and saw some pity but mostly sympathy. I was puzzled by the sympathy but I decided not to ask her about it.

We left the office as one and started opening doors again.

I opened one door and found a Dracon Beam being pointed in my face with Tobias on the other end. He lowered it once he saw that it was me and Anji.

"I hope that thing is on stun." I told him as Anji and I slipped into the office.

"We found a computer that gives us access to the whole base." Tobias explained, ignoring my comment, as we headed over to a desk with a computer where Max was at work as himself.

/I am going to order your devices to leave your bodies./ Max informed us. /If I don't then they will exit as this place is destroyed and that will be messy. I have already done it for everyone else./

Anji and I quickly sat it nearby chairs.

"Just do it." I told him.

It was very painful and had to be messy since Tobias looked away and seemed to be helping Max at the computer.

After I felt the device fall out of me I quickly morphed into my Irish Setter and then demorphed.

I then joined Max, Tobias and Anji at the computer.

/It will be easier than counting to a hundred to destroy this place./ Anji said, soundly a little shocked. /But then it was easy to get into Chapman's computer./

"So how much time should we give ourselves?" I asked.

/Ten or so minutes, if we do more than we run the risk of the Yeerks discovering what we have done and undoing it./ Max told me.

/I concur with Aximili./ Anji said. /I might even put less time in and a passcode to prevent a Yeerk from reversing what we have done./

Max just nodded as he went back to work at the computer.

Anji went over and looked over his shoulder.

/I have this under control./ He told her.

"If you have things under control then we will join everyone else." Tobias told Max.

We left Max to work at the computer and hurried towards the sound of the battle; morphing as we went.

By the time we reached a door I was fully a gorilla, Tobias was a mountain lion and Anji was nearly completely a black panther.

I tried to gently open the door but only succeeded in ripping it off its hinges.

It was an open area and Hork-Bajir Controllers were everywhere with different degrees of injuries. Arbron, Rachel, Cassie and Jake looked only a little better than some of the better looking Hork-Bajir Controllers.

I then saw Visser One off to the side demanding that some of the Hork-Bajir Controllers get up and fight.

/Tobias, why don't you and Anji go and help everyone else./ I said.

/I am going with you./ Anji whispered.

I didn't argue, I might need some support.

We ran together towards Visser One and her little group. The Hork-Bajir Controllers didn't really stand a chance against us.

Finally it was just Anji and I facing Visser One. Anji was growling and I was doing my best to look threatening.

"What are you waiting for Andalites?" she demanded after a few seconds.

=Visser, only one of them is an Andalite.= A strange voice spoke in my head.

Anji, Visser One and I both turned to look at a Leeran standing not too far away.

Anji whispered something that I guessed was an Andalite curse.

Visser One looked both annoyed and angry.

"You are mistaken; one of them is a gorilla a creature that resembles a human in some respects." Visser One snapped.

=Forgive me Visser but-= The Leeran didn't finish his thought before both Anji and I attacked him.

I saw something large, long and yellow approach us out of the corner of my eyes but I was too intent on making sure that the Leeran Controller couldn't expose us as mostly humans to look.

/Well looks like the Andalites have made quite a mess of things here./ Visser Three's voice said sounding a little amused.

I would have gasped in shock if I was human and I dropped the Leeran Controller onto the floor.

"You should have either gotten rid of them properly during the battle over Earth or destroyed them when they face you." Visser One snapped.

Anji and I took a few steps away from the now injured, limp but still breathing Leeran to watch the two Vissers argue.

/As such a high ranking Yeerk you should know that Andalites are sneaky. I wouldn't put it passed them to have placed several of their warriors here secretly to watch for us./

"Excuses!" Visser One snapped.

/If it is an excuse then it's better than some of yours./ Visser Three returned.

"You have messed up this whole invasion by not doing better searching out the Andalites." Visser One returned.

Visser Three laughed.

/If anything the conquest of the human race has been slowed but not derailed completely. What would you say if you were still in charge of Earth and the Andalites were your problem and not mine?/ He asked.

"They wouldn't be a problem!" Visser One yelled; furious.

/They would be as much as much of a problem for you as they are now./ Visser Three stated. /Prince Arbron-Bantec-Deromar is known for blending in with the natives of the planets he is sent to. He leads the Andalites that are more than likely trained also to blend in with planetary natives./

"They are just arrogant Andalites; they will fall like so many others of their kind." Visser One spoke with derision.

/Is that a vote of confidence?/ Visser Three asked in mock interest. /So far all you have done is insult my techniques./

"No, it isn't." Visser One hissed.

/Don't you have other planets to be on?/ Visser Three asked sarcastically. /I would have thought that the Council of Thirteen would have sent you somewhere else by now./

"If you weren't messing with my project we would be nearly done here and Leera would be ours!" Visser One snapped.

/It would be counterproductive to tamper with your assignment since Visser Four and I have worked together and are friends./ Visser Three shot back.

I was just shocked. We could clearly hear the battle between the Hork-Bajir Controllers and the others and all these two could do was yell and insult each other.

/Anji you were right about the Yeerks and how they aren't too different than human politicians./ I told her.

/If we were humans I'd ask you to pass the popcorn./ She replied sounding amused.

For a moment Anji and I just stood there and watched the two Yeerk Vissers exchange insults.

An alarm suddenly wailed loudly through the area causing at least Anji and I to flinch.

"Warning, Containment Fields will shut down in three minutes. Extreme hazard, evacuation is strongly recommended. Countdown will commence in ten second intervals. Have a great day." A computerized voice politely announced.

I wasn't sure what to find more amusing: the fact that the computer had wished us a great day after delivering dire news or the fact that the announcement had shut the two Vissers up.

Anji actually started to laugh hysterically.

/That recording reminds me of the time I tampered with the environmental controls of a greenhouse on school grounds. The computer made a similar announcement after I raised the temperature, air pressure and told it to rain with my classmates inside. They were never able to trace it to me./ She recounted laughing the whole time.

I stared at her in shock. I had never thought of her capable of something like that. Yes, she had hit Max on the head several times with books when they were in human morphs. But then seeing what she had told me about her time at school it seemed like perfect revenge.

The two Vissers turned and looked at her with different expressions. Visser One looked speechless while it appeared that Visser Three was amused on some level.

/Very daring for a female./ Visser Three commented clearly impressed with Anji's brazen action against her classmates.

The announcement came again and that was enough to snap Visser One out of her daze and she raced away from us towards the rest of base.

/Andalites can be demons with computers; I doubt that they would have left a way for you to reverse what they have done if this female spoke the truth of her escapade./ Visser Three called after her.

The next two minutes were a blur as Visser Three chased us around the area. To both Anji's and my credit we didn't scream like little girls.

The chase ended when Anji slipped in a pool of blood that I somehow missed.

/Got you!/ Visser Three sneered.

I raced back and punched Visser Three as hard as I could in the nose of his morph.

He was stunned for a minute and was silent for a second before the computer informed us that we had a minute and twenty seconds before the base was destroyed.

/Retreat!/ Visser Three ordered loudly. The remaining Hork-Bajir Controllers that could turned from my friends hurried to comply.

"The Containment Fields have been stabilized at fifty seconds. Have a great day." The computer announced.

/Visser One must have somehow reversed what Aximili did./ Anji cried out as she demorphed.

I ran after her as she headed back into the base with Rachel and Max following after us.

We found Visser One in her office at her computer.

"You are too late." She said gleefully. "Your little ploy has failed."

Rachel and Max charged at her.

/No!/ I cried out. /Don't kill her./

They knocked her to the floor and Anji raced to the computer.

/It's going to take me a minute or so to bypass her passwords./ Anji reported.

/Marco, what's wrong with you?!/ Rachel demanded.

/Her Host is my mother./ I whispered.

Slowly both Rachel and Max moved away from her.

Something yellow caught my attention and I turned to see Visser Three watching us before swimming away.

I had a feeling that he had seen my friends spare Visser One.

/What the name of Libom?/ Anji demanded drawing my attention back to her.

The computer screen was flashing red with the words that the containment fields were ten seconds from failure along with an alien looking phrase afterwards.

We really didn't have time to react before the window shattered and water sucked us out.

Amid the swirling water I lost sight of everyone else but I thought I saw the Leeran Controller swimming in the water.

I quickly demorphed and morphed into a dolphin since I was in no hurry to become a shark again.

I met up with others on the beach near the place we had landed earlier.

I ignored Rachel as she walked over to me. I didn't want her pity.

"I think I heard the sub as I was swimming here." She whispered to me before she headed towards Cassie.

Xxxx

Later that day found me staring blankly at my bedroom ceiling. Both Tobias and Jake had tried to talk to me about what had happened but I kind of blew them off and they seemed to understand.

The doorbell rang but I just continued to count the discolored marks on the ceiling.

After a minute I could hear someone climbing the stairs and the door opened. I turned to see Anji in her human morph standing there with her backpack hanging from her right hand.

I watched as she closed the door.

"I have something important to share with you." She spoke softly.

I sat up as she grabbed my computer chair.

I somehow knew that what she wanted to share with me was big and not something that she shared with a lot of people.

"When I was younger the adults would whisper about my brother and I. Kilipan would always tell me that what they were talking about shouldn't affect us. As I grew older the children would tell me the real reason my father wasn't home was because he was too much of a coward to kill himself before the Yeerks could take him."

Anji paused in her story to swallow; tears forming in her eyes.

"I didn't want to believe them. I kept telling myself that he was just undercover but when we were captured and taken to the Pool Ship in orbit I knew that everyone else had spoken the truth. My father had been taken."

Anji started to cry uncontrollably.

I stared at her with wide eyes as her words sank in. She had admitted to me that her father was Visser Three's Host.

"They judged you for what happened to your father?" I asked, shocked at the callousness of the Andalite children.

Anji nodded slowly.

"Honor is everything to Andalites; without it you are nothing." She whispered.

I jumped from my bed and hugged her; angry that she had to live for another's failure.

"Does Arbron know?" I asked.

"When I asked him after our escape from the Pool Ship in orbit he told me that he always knew but wanted to give me a chance to prove myself." Anji told me.

"We will free them one day." I whispered to with conviction.

Anji didn't say anything but returned the embrace.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I am done! Yay!

I will be skipping to book #23.

I was originally going to skip it but one of my sisters reminded me that Tobias might not want to just get into the van/SUV with his parents and siblings if he didn't know why they were leaving in a huge hurry.


	20. Interlude 1: Alan

I am not happy, my laptop; not happy! (Those that can tell me what that is paraphrased from will get a surprise.)

I decided to do some side chapters from the POVs of Anjinnl, Arbron and Alan/Elfangor covering things that I would have skipped over and covered in the beginning of the next part.

This is from Elfangor/Alan's POV shortly after the events of book #15.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

I can't believe that I hacked the computers of a Yeerk Facility. I had sworn on what was left of my honor that I would never endanger my family in such a reckless manner.

At first I was only curious to know if I could hack into the Yeerk Facility in the waters of the coast of the State my family and I call home. I knew from Yeerk comm chatter that this facility was being used to increase the brain capacities of sharks to make them more suitable for infestation. They are planning to then use the Shark Controllers to help enslave the Leeran Race. Interesting enough Visser One is there overseeing the project.

I can destroy the facility and prevent them from using the sharks as Controllers but I hesitate to do what needs to be done and kill the wife of a dear friend but the painful memories of what happened on Dezè, the Taxxon home world, how I had allowed the Yeerks to get the upper hand on my people.

The Eva I knew would hope to die so her enslavement could end; just like War Prince Alloran.

What happened on Dezè will haunt me until the day I die. Only four life forms know what I did that hot day and the mistake that only a child or being with minimum mental capacity could make.

I had not questioned things too deeply, not at first. But it was far too late when I did remember the importance of Prince Alloran's question and the danger we were all in if our two passengers had been infested.

Something hadn't been quite right in the ship's cabin. I had chalked it up to Loren and Chapman being afraid of the Hork-Bajir that Sub-Visser Seven controlled, my worry for Arbron's safety and Prince Alloran's concern being on a planet under the control of the Yeerks and having a smarter Yeerk on his ship.

When I saw the recordings of what had happened in our absence I had told him that not enough time had passed for Loren and Chapman to have been taken to the Yeerk Pool and infested. I had even added that Loren's long hair was completely dry with no sign that it had gotten wet and they didn't smell like a Yeerk Pool.

_/There are more than one way to infest a Host then to enter from a Yeerk Pool._/ Prince Alloran had told me as he had come over to look at the recordings himself.

I had not completely understood what he had meant and didn't have time to think about it since Sub-Visser Seven attacked us before Prince Alloran had the opportunity to look at the recordings.

My first hint should have been the expressions and the actions of Loren and Chapman when I and Prince Alloran killed the Sub-Visser during the attack on my Prince. Loren's actions to Chapman and his actions to her didn't fit with how they acted to each other before. I just assumed that they had bonded through their terrifying experiences.

Prince Alloran and I had pushed the remains of the Hork-Bajir out of the airlock. I had been horrified that he had attacked us knowing that he wouldn't stand a chance.

Some of his blades had damaged the screen and controls so we couldn't look at the recordings. That should have been another clue but I just assumed that the damage had been coincidental not calculated damage.

Then next there was a personal and private discussion that Prince Alloran and I were having within firing range of a Yeerk transport that contained Yeerks waiting for Hosts. I argued that the Yeerks were defenseless and didn't pose a direct threat to us. Prince Alloran told me that the Yeerks were not as helpless as one would think. How in their pools they could use special computers to help their fellow Yeerks in different tasks. How Gedd Controllers had murdered our warriors with stolen Shedders on Yad before stealing some ships and other technology. The warriors hadn't stood a chance because Seerow had told them that the Gedd Controllers didn't pose a threat and were harmless.

And that over Hayashi, the Hork-Bajir home world, he had hesitated to attack a transport with no weapons and minimal shields. It had the look of a simple science vessel that belonged to the Koth; it turned out to be an elaborate trick. A good warrior died that day when the transport revealed itself to be a Yeerk Ship and more than capable of handling the three fighters that had been sent to investigate.

How he wondered if he had not hesitated if we would have lost Hayashi. He could tell himself that he would never know. He still wondered though if he had destroyed that transport if the Electorate would have still pushed him to do the unthinkable; then refused to say that they had ordered it to be done.

I had asked him if he was the one that had released a dangerous agent into the atmosphere of Hayashi. He told me that he had it in his possession and had orders to release it but hesitated to do so; he thought that if the Yeerks knew about about it they would hesitate and maybe leave. It had been stolen and released accidently by Aldrea, Seerow's daughter before he could decide whether he should threaten the Yeerks with it or do as the Electorate commanded. But he had been punished since she had gotten passed his passcodes and stolen it.

I had hesitated and looked at the transport. I couldn't decide if I could or should fire.

Before I could decide Chapman attacked Prince Alloran and I knocked my Prince out without a second's thought. I didn't think of why Chapman would attack a War Prince especially since he had just seen what an Andalite Tail Blade had done to a Hork-Bajir. I had just been grateful that I didn't have to decide the fate of the Yeerk transport at that moment.

I had assumed that he and Loren had seen Prince Alloran becoming upset and were worried about my safety. And their words seemed to back that up.

I quickly gave Prince Alloran a sedative and a calming agent since he had become upset talking about the past. I was shocked by his admission and horrified if it was the truth.

I thought that if could retrieve the Matrix and locate Arbron before Prince Alloran woke up he would be pleased about two less things to worry about and then the need to escape would overpower the possibility of destroying a Yeerk transport and slowing them down.

I was a stupid child that knew nothing of war or just how cunning the enemy could be.

It wasn't until I had moved the Matrix from the twisted remains of the Skrit Na ship to an outer storage bay on the _Jahar_ that Prince Alloran's comment of there being more than one way to infest a potential Host and the events leading up to the comment came back to me.

Both Loren and Chapman had been dragged from the captured _Jahar_ towards the entrance of the Yeerk Pool. They had disappeared into the tunnel but less than two minutes later they managed to escape and run back to the _Jahar_ and a minute later I had arrived.

Prince Alloran had arrived a moment later and captured the Sub-Visser.

A Taxxon told us that Arbron had talked the Taxxons that resisted the Yeerks into attacking the space port. He also told us that Arbron had important information for us but that Arbron wanted to give it to us in person. He told us that Arbron was waiting for us at a Taxxon Hive some distance to the west protected by rebels.

Prince Alloran thanked the Taxxon and we had taken off.

Prince Alloran had then asked me to look at the recordings but he never got the chance to examine them. It was then that I had gotten the sinking suspicion that in the time that Loren and Chapman couldn't be seen the Yeerks had restrained them, held Yeerks up to their ears and been infested. No head dunking so there would be no wet hair or the smell of a Yeerk Pool.

When I thought of that then Loren and Chapman's reactions to Sub-Visser Seven's demise made sense. The Yeerks in them had just witnessed the death of their superior.

I quickly slipped back towards the wreckage of the ship; grateful that the Matrix hovered when touched so the Yeerks in Loren and Chapman wouldn't know for sure that I had moved it.

I stunned both of them when I saw them move not far from the _Jahar_. I was relieved and started to move to them when I froze at another memory

Shortly after landing I had been separated from Prince Alloran and Arbron. I had been quickly captured by Sub-Visser Seven. While I was in his custody he informed me that he was one of the Yeerks' leading biologists on creatures that could be useful Hosts. How he had agreed with earlier findings that the Hork-Bajir would be useful Hosts and was also one of their leading experts on my people. He even told me that he aspired to be one of the first Andalite Controllers but he was reluctant to have an adolescent for a Host; but how my superior might suit him.

Horror filled me as I thought of the possibilities.

I barely had the reaction time to shoot, and just miss completely stunning Prince Alloran. But I knew that he was no longer in control; I could see it as the Yeerk controlling him looked at the Shedder that had fallen to the sandy ground from a now limp arm.

I knew before he even said anything that it was Sub-Visser Seven.

The Sub-Visser mocked me for being so smart for figuring it out but so stupid at the same time. How Prince Alloran had had suspicions about the two humans being infested but decided that some actions could wait. But Prince Alloran had known for sure when Chapman attacked him but I had knocked my superior out before I could be warned.

I know I should have killed them both but I had hoped to starve the Yeerks out of my Prince and Loren. I would restraint all of them but keep Chapman and Prince Alloran unconscious until the Sub-Visser starved out.

I had drugged and securely restrained all of them before I began to move them. My mistake was not moving my Prince to safety first; I moved Loren and Chapman first. I had not even moved my Prince far when I heard the engines of the Bug Fighters. I panicked and fled to the _Jahar_ leaving the scene before the Yeerks could arrive.

By the time I regained my wits nearly a day later I knew I couldn't return to Dezè. Arbron would most likely not be in that area anymore and the Sub-Visser would have been freed by his fellow Yeerks.

I knew I could go back to my people and beg for mercy. I had the Matrix so the Electorate might brush my actions aside but Prince Alloran's words haunted me about how they had ordered him to destroy the Hork-Bajir but punished him when they learned that the toxic agent had been stolen from him and the agent's release had been accidental on the thief's part.

What was worst was that I had promised my captain, Feyorn-Gahar-Isfall that I would make sure that Prince Alloran returned from that mission. Prince Alloran would never return to Nyumbani, the home world, to help settle on a name for his coming second child.

I had decided that it might be better everyone if I just disappeared.

After Loren was free of the Yeerk she told me how Chapman had made a deal with the Yeerks. He traded the Human Race for his freedom.

When we reached Earth I erased Chapman's memories and dumped him in the country called the USA. Chapman had told Loren he was from there like her.

I told Loren that I wasn't returning to my people; not after what had happened. She asked me to join her on Earth. She would help me fit in on Earth and I would be able to keep an eye out for Yeerk activity.

We had carefully created a story of how she had been abducted and I helped her escape from them in Mexico. We would then do a mixture of walking and hotwiring different cars to get to officers from her country.

I acquired several DNA samples from different humans and preformed the _Frolis Maneuver_. After we were ready I sent the _Jahar_ to a predetermined place in the area were Loren lived.

It turned out we drove the hotwired cars more than we walked; it was just too hot to do too much walking.

I had been amazed that we were able to fool the officers with our story but it was believable and Loren was soon reunited with her family. Her parents insisted that I come with them when I told them that I had run away from a cult like environment.

I had quickly learned how to live as a human and entered the world of computers so I could help find any signs of Yeerks on Earth.

Loren and I married just before we graduated with degrees in computer programming and other such things.

We have five beautiful children. I had been worried about having children and if they would have Andalite DNA. My children do have some Andalite characteristics and they all have Thought Speech to a degree.

Tobias's ears are slightly pointed, he likes animals, asks questions about all sorts of things and he used to ask me about life on other planets; he stopped after the destruction of the Andalite Dome Ship in orbit. Tobias does have Thought Speech and has allowed others to feel his emotions but he rarely does either one.

Leilani's eyes are a more almond shaped and when her hair came in some of it was a violet color. Loren and I hid her hair under an infant hat until Leilani was old enough for us to dye it. Leilani's Thought Speech kicks in for the most part when her mouth is slower than her brain.

Hoshi has a build that reminds of a growing Andalite female. She could almost be one given a human body and features. Until Hoshi was almost two years old she used mostly Thought Speech with a few spoken words. I thank any higher power that might exist that only Loren and I were the ones she was directing her thoughts to. Loren and I found a way to get her to speak and that was more or less the end of her using Thought Speech.

Rio loves staring at the stars. He likes nature but prefers the conveniences of living in a modern society. But he gets very claustrophobic in tight spaces and in large crowds.

Hayden has no obvious Andalite features or characteristics but those could come in where she is older. She does have Thought Speech which she uses to say harder words but with encouragement she says them out loud.

Yeerk chatter was nonexistent for years but nearly three years ago brief transmissions would be either sent from Earth or received by a Yeerk on Earth. They slowly increased over the years and became longer. Now there are always transmissions being sent to the Yeerks here to the Yeerks in other places.

I record what I can and have discovered disturbing things: the Yeerks have taken more Andalites and they are slowly infiltrating the ranks of my people.

Sadly I can't do anything with this information. I know that if I warn my people my transmission could potentially be picked up and if it is then I will be hunted down. I would have to uproot my family and live on the run.

We could flee to Nyumbani but I have no idea what they will do to me or my wife and children. Andalites have a superior complex and the thought that I have been passing as a lowly human for some twenty years, married a human woman and have human children will anger many.

For my cowardly actions on Dezè I most likely will be banished or killed in an underhanded manner that can't be traced back to the Electorate.

If I am not banished and my family and I are allowed to stay Loren and the children will never fit in. I will be pitied for having a child that is considered a _vecol _both on Earth and there.

Leilani for all her difficulties learning and interacting properly with others is very intelligent. She loves to learn about new things and working with computers. I had to restrict access to my work computer and the computer filled with Andalite Technology with passcodes to prevent her from doing anything to them or discovering that there was more to them than met the eye.

Leilani will do great things one day; Einstein did.

I watched as the computers at the facility are accessed by what I know to be an Andalite. I follow their progress as they remove the devices to increase the intelligence of lesser creatures from apparently their fellow Andalites and then program the containment fields to fail in ten minutes but failed to put in the means to prevent a high enough ranking Yeerk from preventing the failure.

A quick look at a few recordings of high ranking Yeerks schedules and I learned that Visser Three was due soon at the facility.

I vowed then if the containment failure was stopped I would start it again with no time to escape for the unprepared; only morph capable could stand a chance. It would be a way to end Eva's suffering and if I was lucky Prince Alloran's as well.

I waited as the minutes ticked by; waiting to discover if I was needed.

With fifty seconds left Visser One stopped the containment failure and I got to work. It was probably foolish of me but I put an Andalite phrase wishing anyone that saw the message that the containment failure was seconds away a good day when it announced that they had only ten seconds to live but I made sure that no one could reverse what was done.

I knew that the facility was destroyed when my connection to their computers was severed.

I stared at the screen for a few minutes just breathing.

I hoped that the Andalites would have had the sense to evacuate or had been able to morph in time.

The door to my home office opens and Loren comes in. I can see the worry in her eyes.

"I destroyed a Yeerk facility." I told her. "Eva was in it." I continued after a moment.

Loren pulled me into an embrace and cried with me.

"Death can be just as good as liberty at times." She whispered to me.

We stayed there for a long time. The children at home were entertaining each other so we had time.

I heard the front door open and close. A minute later Tobias peered into my office.

"I'm home," he announced with a smile before heading upstairs to his room.

I have been worried about my eldest child. He has been different in a way I can't understand. I am a little worried about the friend of his that I see now and then; the one called Max. I know Max is no ordinary teenager; a regular teenager doesn't nearly completely rewrite complex computer software that deals with even more complex mathematical equations and algorithms. Only an Andalite would stand a chance at rewriting the software and not damage it.

That Andalite was very lucky I was able to make it look like it was happenstance that the modifications were made. If I wasn't so worried about being discovered I would give his superior a piece of my mind.

"I think it's time to spend some unscheduled time in the middle of nowhere for four to five days." I told Loren. "No technology or anything; just us with the children in the middle of the woods with the dogs, sleeping in tents on either the ground or air mattresses and roasting marshmallows over a campfire."

Loren smiled.

"That sounds very fun; we used to do that before the major slug outbreak." She told me.

I returned her smile.

"Let me secure my computer and my other assignments before we start packing." She whispered as she patted my right shoulder.

"The children can't have time to tell anyone that we are leaving. If a note is left saying we're on a trip that is fine." I told her as I moved to close out of my work and secure my computers and set my eavesdropping equipment to continuous recording.

I quickly composed an email to my boss saying that I would be gone for a few days with my family but that my projects were ahead of schedule and I would send a progress report shortly after I returned from the trip.

Loren and I carefully packed the children's bags grateful that they all were in the living room watching a movie.

Loren and I took the back way into the garage to pack the SUV. Soon we were ready to leave.

All the children were surprised by the unexpected camping trip but only Tobias seemed to think he was being sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

I confiscated all the electronics the children had while Loren wrote a note explaining we were camping to put on the front door. I ordered my computer via Thought Speech to send the email as I drove the SUV down the driveway.

We drove away from the house and I felt good about the camping trip. It would be a good chance to reconnect.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sorry for any mistakes that I might have made in writing this.

I am working on another chapter from Arbron's POV which most likely revolve around the events of book #16 and some of his thoughts.


	21. Between Missions 1: Rachel

Hi, sorry that I have been gone for so long.

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My name is Rachel and right now I am worried about my friend and fellow Animorph Tobias. I tried to call him a few hours after we returned from destroying the underwater Yeerk Facility but my call went to the answering machine after ringing three or four times. At first I thought maybe he and his family had gone to the movies or to a park but when I tried to call the next day and the answering machine picked up again I was worried.

I forced myself to remain calm as I pedaled down different streets until his house came into view. As I put the kickstand down on my bike I noticed that the front yard was bare of some of the toys I had seen on the grass on several occasions.

As I walked up to the front door I noticed that neither Champ or Indiana were barking like one or the other had done the few times I came to the house. However I did notice a note taped to front door.

_We have gone camping for a few days in the middle of nowhere. We are sorry if we missed you but we will be back. Alan, Loren, Tobias, Leilani, Hoshi, Rio and Hayden_

I stared at the note for a few moments before I headed back to my bike. I decided right then and there to head to Marco's since he knew Tobias's family the best so he would know if this was normal. I mean I know Tobias said on several occasions that his family going on camping trips but I got the impression that they haven't gone on one for some time.

As I turned on Marco's street I noticed Anji's bike was parked on the front lawn and I almost paused for a moment.

Yesterday Marco revealed to some of us that his mother is or was Visser One's Host. I can't imagine what that has to be like. I know that my cousin Tom is a Controller and that Jake has to live with that every day but it has to be different on many levels. I know that Marco's mom supposedly drowned at sea about three years ago so that would mean that for about two years Marco thought that his mother was dead. He had to have learned the truth when we were captured and taken to the Pool Ship in orbit. I had spoken the truth to him on Royan Island when I had said I had heard engines as we had headed for the beach but I am not sure if it is better for Visser One to be alive with Marco's mother as a Host or if she would rather be dead. Maybe death would be better than the dim hope of being freed.

I parked my bike next to Anji's and hoped she was visiting Marco for school reasons and not making him feel like a loser where his mother is concerned.

I forced myself to be calm as I pressed the doorbell.

A minute later Marco opened the door; he was surprised to see me but he forced a smile and stepped aside so I could enter the house.

I immediately noticed that Anji was sitting on the couch in the living room with school books on the coffee table and on a couch cushion. I almost laughed at the idea that Marco was doing homework with Anji but I had a more pressing concern.

"There's a note on the front door of Tobias's house saying that the family has gone camping." I told them.

Marco frowned.

"They used to go on camping trips for three to four days but they haven't gone for more than two days for the last year or so." Marco said with some concern in his voice.

"Is there a way to verify that they did go on a camping trip?" Anji asked as she headed over to Marco and I.

Marco nodded.

"They leave all their electronics at home. They line them up on the small kitchen table in groups of who they belong to. If they are really camping that is what we find in their house." Marco stated.

We all headed for Tobias's house but headed for the woods so we could morph into cockroaches and slip in through the kitty door on the backdoor. It was a frightening race.

Once we were inside we continued until we were in the main part of the house to demorph.

"I never realized just how inhospitable the furniture arrangement was for morphing!" Marco grumbled as we demorphed in the living room.

"I doubt that Tobias's parents took the fact that an Andalite might need to demorph in their living room into consideration when they bought and arranged the furniture." Anji commented once she morphed into her human morph.

Marco is right: the arrangement of the furniture would make it difficult for an Andalite to maneuver through the living room as well as the rest of the house. Hork-Bajir would have issues too with the arrangement as well.

Slowly we made our way to the kitchen and sure enough two high tech cell phones are on the table along with the cheaper one that Tobias uses along with three iPods, pink, yellow, blue, and three hand held gaming systems that I don't recognize.

"They went on a camping trip; has all the markers of one." Marco stated with confidence.

"I want to check the whole house to be on the safe side." I told him.

"Just don't touch or move too many things in Leilani and Hoshi's room; somehow they will know that someone touched their stuff." Marco said in warning. I knew he was serious.

There is some disarray as far as the drawers in the dressers are concerned in all the children's rooms but it could be normal for them; Cassie has at least one that is not completely closed all the time. In the Master Bedroom there is little to no hint of anything except for the covers looked a little rumpled in a few places; as if someone had packed bags on them. I went back and sure enough all the beds, that were made, had rumpled covers from a bag being packed.

Finally we met up in the back room of the house since it would be less crowded for Anji to demorph and then morph.

"Should we tell Arbron that Tobias and his family are camping?" Marco asked.

"We should so he doesn't worry about him." Anji responded.

We morphed and headed back for the place we left our clothes and bikes. I did feel a little bad about dragging them here and everything.

"Thanks for checking with me." I told them as we headed out of the wooeds.

"No problem," Marco replied, "if it was something serious we would have needed to know."

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Originally I wasn't going to do this but I thought that it would be interesting to explore Rachel discovering that Tobias and his family were gone. Then have some thoughts on how the home isn't morph friendly but Tobias isn't going to think too much on it since it has been that way since he was young and before he knew of the invasion so he isn't going to be asking why the house isn't morph friendly. Yes he has noted that it isn't smart to try to morph in the house but he doesn't know that there is a reason for it.

Guess what? I am going to attempt to write book #16 from Arbron's POV.


	22. Part 7

I decided that this will cover some of the events of book #16 with several twists. If you forgot this will be narrated by Arbron.

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I am Arbron-Bantec-Deromar, I am an advanced scout you could say for my people that Andalites in the war against the Yeerks. My job usually is to blend in, watch for Yeerk activity and report to my superiors if I see any.

Over a year ago I traveled from my home world to the planet Earth to investigate possible Yeerk activity. If we didn't find any Yeerks in orbit than I along with a few others would have stayed to blend in with the humans to wait for them to come.

But the Yeerks had been waiting for us. The attack had begun moments after we exited Zero Space and moved closer to Earth.

Because I had had some training flying fighters I had been asked to take part in the space battle. It had been slaughter.

Before I had left the _GalaxyTree_ I had ordered my fighter's computer to search Earth for any hint of Andalite Technology that hadn't been altered by the Yeerks. I had hoped to discover what had befallen my friend Elfangor years ago when he had vanished on Dezè. I know that at one point on Dezè that he had been with Prince Alloran and in the company of the two humans that had been infested with Yeerks. I had feared that Elfangor had been taken by the Yeerks but none of our spies reported that he had been taken or reported the presence of two new alien hosts.

After he and the two humans failed to show up among the Yeerks I had slowly created a new theory that somehow Elfangor had escaped with the two humans while Prince Alloran had somehow been captured. It didn't make complete sense seeing that Elfangor had to have known by that point since both humans had been infested. And since the Taxxon Resistance had reported that he and Prince Alloran had boarded the _Jahar_ together with Chapman and Loren inside there was little to no way that Elfangor could of have escaped the Yeerks unless Prince Alloran had been taken while they were retrieving the Matrix.

I had just witnessed the a Visser's Blade Ship destroy the _GalaxyTree_ when my fighter informed me that it had found what could be Andalite Technology but it appeared to be in pieces.

I decided then and there to take my chances and land. I had a human morph and could speak the human language English, which is spoken or at least understood in many countries on Earth, and learn just how long the Yeerks had been on Earth and how dug in they were.

I have no idea why I decided to give the five humans that saw my ship the powers to morph. Some of it might had to do with the fact that I knew that I would be fighting the Yeerks with no backup. I am no warrior even though I trained briefly as one. Elfangor and I had been training as spies or something of the like when Elfangor had gotten in his head to be a warrior and begged me to join him. We hadn't trained long before I had decided to return my training as a spy.

They have been a help to me. They are young but are learning.

We have used the Morphing Power to morph into dangerous animals to fight the Yeerks. For the humans it is necessary since they have no natural weapons or defenses I do it to blend in further. As long as the Yeerks believe that the human children are young Andalites the safer they will be. If the Yeerks ever were to learn the truth it would be game over for everyone as Marco would put it.

Afterwards as I waited for the time to come to meet them at the beach I searched for Chapman and Loren. I found Chapman and learned that he was a Controller. Unfortunately I don't know if this is because he was returned as a Controller or if Elfangor had managed to return Chapman to Earth with no memories and Chapman had later been infested when the Yeerks arrived.

I have still been unable to locate Loren. A war had been mentioned in passing that he had been involved in but sadly I can't remember the details. The only hint I have found was a girl fitting her general description had been abducted and taken to Mexico only to make the journey back with an orphan that had been taken about the same time as she had been.

I had hit a dead end as humans put it.

I had been looking through the information on the Yeerks progress that I had slowly gathered over the time I had been on Earth. The Yeerks were indeed everywhere; in government offices, the police, military and the general populous.

However I had discovered that two other warriors had survived the battle in orbit: Gafinilan-Estrif-Valad and Mertil-Iscar-Elmand. Mertil had lost his tail blade when his fighter crashed and since Gafinilan was ill and taking care of Mertil I didn't feel that I could ask him to help with much. He had told me that he would keep his eyes open for any kind of trouble.

Originally I had hoped to blend in more easily with the human race but with so many different things to worry about it was almost impossible. Anjinnl and Aximili were just able to slip through cracks and attend school while it would be much harder for me to move around.

Anjinnl does well on Earth away from those that judge her for what happened to her father. No one taunts her or is needlessly cruel to her. She would have gone far back home if she hadn't had a cloud of suspicion hanging over her.

/Prince Arbron!/ Anjinnl's Thought Speech call suddenly cut through my thoughts.

I looked away from my work as she flew in as a Goshawk and landed on a chair that hadn't been put away from the last meeting we had at the Scoop.

/What is it?/ I asked her, noting that something was bothering her.

/Jake found something he thinks we should all see. We are supposed to meet at Marco's./ She told me.

I quickly hid the papers in a safe and sealed it before I morphed into a younger male human.

The Scoop has been redesigned to look like a simple cabin to help keep suspicious humans away so I must put away anything that would cause suspicion.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

The journey to Marco home took longer than I had hoped but soon we were all gathered in his room near the desk where his computer set.

"What did you find Jake?" I asked once everyone settled in. Humans tend to like getting comfortable before potentially long conversations start.

Jake took a deep breath and I knew it most likely wasn't good. Living with a Controller is a double edge blade, while you can pick up useful information you could be endangering yourself if you slip up or if the information was purposefully leaked to smoke us out.

"I know it wasn't smart but I was curious to know if anyone else knows about the Invasion or the Yeerks so I just googled 'Yeerk' and several websites came up. Most of them appeared to be ramblings of crazy people with very basic information but one of them had a lot of information including an excellent sketch of a Hork-Bajir. I didn't dare look any further and asked Anji to help erase my browser history so Tom can't see it." Jake explained.

I was immediately on high alert. I could understand the Yeerks maybe ignoring the ramblings of a few former Controllers or something of the like but to allow that much information to be out there for anyone to discover?

It didn't feel right.

"Show us." I gently prompted.

Anjinnl stood first and put the safeguards in place and then stood aside as Jake took the chair and typed in the needed information. It took some time but the site soon was being displayed on the computer screen. Jake was right. The information was beyond the ramblings of someone that was insane but someone that knew what they were saying. It talked about the Yeerks and what they were, their habits and what they wanted. It even had a list of how deeply entrenched they were on Earth; of places they were and were not.

It was troubling.

"Click on the pictures." I gently commanded.

Within a few seconds we were looking at highly detailed sketches of Hork-Bajir, Taxxons, Leeran, Mak and many other species that the Yeerks had either conquered or were interested in, there were ever a few Andalites. One of them was unmistakably Prince Alloran and one I thought looked a lot like Anjinnl.

I glanced at Anjinnl and noted that she was stiff.

"Someone knows a little too much." Rachel muttered.

"Could it be a trap?" Cassie whispered softly.

"It might be." I responded.

"We should check out the message boards." Tobias suggested.

Jake quickly clicked on that option and soon we were looking at boards with different titles from the habits of some of the aliens to ways to spot Yeerk activity.

Quickly checking on all of them revealed that nearly all of the boards were started by the same person: WateryMoonArtist.

"What kind of name is that?" Rachel asked softly. "Why not choose 'WateryArtist' or 'MoonArtist' or some other kind of variation?"

"Maybe they are talking about the moonlight reflecting on water or it is supposed to sound dreamy." Cassie suggested.

I admitted silently that it was an odd name but Cassie did have a point and humans could be odd creatures. 'WateryMoonArtist' wasn't the oddest or most bizarre name on that site and the few times that I had been on the Internet I had seen some interesting ones.

"I thought I saw something back on the main page." Marco spoke after a moment. "I think it said 'designs'."

Jake went back and sure enough there was a link labeled 'designs'. He clicked on it and before our eyes were easily dozens of highly detailed sketches of ships, equipment, weapons and buildings. In that moment I was grateful that we had redesigned the Scoop but now fear was settling in me.

I remembered all too well in that moment what Anjinnl and Aximili reported to me what Prince Alloran had warned them about when Aximili had attempted to assassinate Visser Three. He had told them that the Yeerks were on Nyumbani and this just might be proof of that.

We all quickly searched the site and learned that it apparently belonged and was run by 'WateryMoonArtist' but there was no other information. We had figuratively hit a wall for a moment.

"We could visit the place where the site's information is stored and get the information from there." Tobias stated.

"I mean Web Across America isn't too far away and I have enough money in my shoebox that those of us with IDs can buy tickets and those that don't can be our carryon pets." Tobias stated.

I was silent as I considered it.

"What about school?" I asked.

"We can go in two days; Teacher Workshop Day." Cassie put in. "Only our families will know we aren't around and we will or can just give them the same spiel about being at the Mall or with someone else."

I was silent for a minute before I nodded in agreement. It was already silently acknowledged that Anjinnl, Aximili and I would be the ones that would be morphing into animals that humans kept for pets for the trip.

"Everyone, prepare for the trip and get what you even think might be needed for this trip." I told them.

In a few days we would be getting some answers. I just hoped that the information would be helpful and that it would lead us closer to the truth.

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You might have noticed a few differences between what Elfangor had to say about his and Loren's journey back to her home and what little information that Arbron uncovered. I thought that since Elfangor had said he had runaway from a cult that they might have bent the truth about him so the cult couldn't find him. I mean if he made them sound dangerous enough people might have been willing to cover for him.


	23. Chapter 23

Sorry I took so long. I thought about adding a scene before deciding against it, most of it was because I would have to rewrite more than have of what I had already written and I had already done that at least twice before that.

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I wasn't nervous as I trotted beside Tobias disguised in morph as Champ, the German Shephard owned by Tobias's family. I had done similar things on a dozen worlds and been through an untold number of training exercises. For the most part you allow the natural instincts of your morph to take over with a few exceptions of behavior. On one hand you don't want to seem abnormal but not unruly depending on what and where you are.

I knew that both Anjinnl and Aximili were afraid but they seemed to be controlling their fear well. They were even behaving themselves remarkably. /Keep it up you two./ I told them privately.

I suspected that Anjinnl was worried about the safety of her family back on Nyumbani but she hadn't voiced any of her concerns to me. I suspected that she didn't want to be pulled from the mission if she thought that I thought she was emotionally compromised.

I will admit that I was curious to know who had drawn those sketches. But some Andalites looked similar and those sketches could have been sitting in one of the Yeerks archives somewhere before someone decided to use them as bait for a trap.

I was grateful that I had asked the Chee to keep an eye on Jake and Marco's families until we could sort this all out.

Slowly we made our way through security and to the gate we would be boarding the plane through.

It was loud and there were many different sounds and smells that intrigued the mind of my morph. I allowed some of that curiosity through as I looked around and noticed several booths selling food and groups of different travelers; I even pulled a little bit at one point to further play the act of being a dog.

"Sit Champ," Tobias said calmly as he lowered his body into one of the connected chairs in the terminal. I sat like I had seen other dogs and kept close to Tobias.

Finally the boarding call went out and we boarded the plane.

Xxxxxx

The plane ride had been interesting. Short and the wind seemed strong at times. Tobias had said it was because the flight was so short we hadn't gotten very high in the air because it was a 'puddle jump'.

At the moment we were all humans walking through the public areas of Web Across America's offices. There were paintings of the three founders of Web Across America along one wall. There were also several other paintings with surreal landscapes on the walls as well. According to the guide all the paintings had been done by the talented Rain Forester.

I had heard about her before, a talented woman with Asian and European blood with a brilliant imagination and unique ways of painting and combining colors.

I didn't know anything else about her though.

As I examined one painting I wished that I could view it with my Andalite eyes so I could see any hidden details. Some human artists liked to hide things in their work and I wanted to know if Rain Forester was one of them.

We had already devised a plan to learn the identity of 'WateryMoonArtist' and it was time to put it into action.

Anjinnl had already placed a device to disrupt their security cameras and placed it on the roof before we entered and all she had to do was activate it.

Jake checked the time on his watch and sighed; the prearranged signal. Anjinnl tipped her head to one side and smiled slightly to let us know that the device had been activated.

We continued to follow the tour group for a bit before Anjinnl, Aximili and Marco broke off to access the systems of Web Across America. When we were in a skywalk above and to the side of one of their main areas we started our distraction.

Xxxxxxx

As the afternoon wore on we gathered in the Scoop ready to go over the information that Anjinnl, Aximili and Marco had retrieved from Web Across America's system.

"Well we discovered who 'WateryMoonArtist' is." Marco began. "Drumroll, it is Rain Forester. I was surprised when I saw that too." Marco said.

There was silence for several moments as everyone took it in. "If she's responsible that would explain the quality of the sketches but now how did she do them is the question." Rachel commented

"Could someone just be using her name or someone with the same name as her?" Cassie asked.

"Could they be trying to find us or smoke out former Controllers?" Tobias asked.

"The site is meant for someone; that much is obvious." Anjinnl commented.

"But for who?" Jake asked.

"Are there other spies here Arbron?" Marco asked. "Maybe that's who they're looking for."

"I doubt that he would tell us if that's the case." Aximili commented.

I looked away from the young ones for a few minutes as I mentally went through my knowledge of the Yeerks and the theories put forth by everyone. All of them had merits but experience told me that the trap is meant for someone. Whether or not it's meant for us or others I didn't know.

Finally I turned to face them. "I don't know what the Yeerks are planning but my experience is that they are trying to trap someone. It might be us or someone else. For now return to your homes and do as much research on Rain Forester as you are comfortable doing. If you are going to say you're doing research then take notes and turn it into a teacher for extra credit or something of the like. It's important to not draw attention to yourselves." I told them.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Since it would have alerted the Yeerks to their presence they didn't morph and 'mop' the floor. As to what they did . . . use your imagination. An improvised skit or something or the like or reciting poetry or Shakespeare.


	24. Chapter 24

I apologize for the bugged format earlier.

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Three days later we flew in the air observing the home of Rain Forester. Her house was far from major roads with a long driveway with trees surrounding the driveway and formed a half circle around a large house. It looked so peaceful.

However something was off. It was eluding me exactly why I that way.

/It looks so peaceful!/ Anjinnl commented wistfully.

/Reminds me of home./ Aximili said excitedly.

/I wouldn't mind camping in the woods here. If there wasn't a house here I am sure I could convince my parents to take the family here for a getaway./ Tobias added.

/I think I could talk my parents into joining your family Tobias./ Cassie commented.

/I bet you can't get Wi-Fi out here./ Marco commented drily.

/But you can get different, better connection./ Rachel said with some snark.

/It seems so peaceful here and – hey guys I see something shimmering in the grass!/ Jake said with excitement, not finishing what he had been saying.

/Where?/ I asked, searching the grass for the shimmer that Jake had spotted.

/It's about five yards from the house and seems to go in a circle around the back of it./ Jake reported.

That would explain why I couldn't see the shimmer since I was facing the front of the house and was a little closer to the ground.

/Everyone be careful; we don't know if she is in league with the Yeerks or someone else./ I reminded them.

One by one they agreed to be careful.

/I can see Ms. Forester in one of the rooms talking on the phone with someone./ Rachel reported. /I think she's talking with someone close to her like a friend or family member since she seems to be laughing and smiling./

/Maybe she has a boyfriend and they're making plans for later./ Jake suggested.

/That would explain some of her body language she cou-/ Rachel never finished what she was thinking since there was an abrupt flash of light and I saw her fall from where she had been flying as a Bald Eagle.

/PULL UP!/ I shouted to everyone else as I tried to think of what Rachel could have come in contact with. It could be as simple as some kind of electric fence or if Rain Forester was with the Yeerks and had a Gleet Bio-Filter but there was no alarm; at least on the outside.

/I don't think she's breathing!/ Cassie cried out.

/Get away from the shimmering air./ I ordered them evenly.

The sound of barking dogs comes from the house.

/Rachel's breathing./ Cassie reported; relief was evident in her Thought Speech.

Another light flashed and I saw Aximili fall limp to the ground.

/He's still breathing./ Tobias reported a few moments later.

The shimmering was a Stun Field with possible holographic purposes; Rain Forester was either a Controller or aiding the Yeerks in some fashion.

/Everyone regroup at the clump of rocks we saw when we first came here. We need different morphs. Rain Forester is in league with the Yeerks and we have to rescue both Rachel and Aximili before she can deliver them to Visser Three. Tobias, Cassie I need you two in the air and informing us of any and all vehicles you see and any changes you see going on outside. But change your morphs; Cassie you first while Tobias keeps an eye on things than you take his place while he changes his morph.

/Jake, I need you in your tiger morph. Anjinnl, morph into the Black Panther and Marco I need you as a gorilla. I will be morphing into something I acquired on another planet. Once everything is in place we are going to charge the house. Jake and Anjinnl both of you need to stay behind me to avoid being injured. Marco since I will be moving too fast I need you to ride on me until we get into the house then stay behind me until we have an estimate of how many people are inside the house. Depending on what we find and or how much damage my morph takes I will demorph. We need to be ready as soon as possible./ I told them.

Landing among the trees near the rocks I demorphed and prepared myself to morph into a Trepitjar Sòl; a large grazing animal from a planet the natives called Riciafi. Its hide was incredibly thick, able to take multiple shots from both Shredders and Dracon Beams before slowing and a plate on its face capable of helping it break into an Andalite research facility.

/Several humans have retrieved Rachel and Aximili./ Cassie reported as I brought my memories of the Trepitjar Sòl to the front of my mind and began to become one.

Out of habit I ignored the exact changes my body was going through as I morphed except that I was morphing into a Trepitjar Sòl. Finally the changes stopped and I opened my morph's eyes. The Trepitjar Sòl had great eyesight for grazing animals but I hadn't chosen it for its eyesight alone.

/Is everyone ready?/ I asked those that were with me. One by one they answered in the affirmative and I ordered Marco to get on my back.

/GO!/ I shouted to them as I charged forward with Jake and Anjinnl bounding just behind me. Marco yelped briefly in shock at the speed I had taken off but he quickly recovered and held on rather tightly.

/Jump!/ I ordered as I barreled over a cleverly disguised pole for the Stun Field. The Stun Field flickered and died for some distance in both directions. Seconds later I was heading for the front of the house and lowered my head just enough to smash through the door.

Once we were inside I noticed almost immediately that we were alone and that all the doors except for one were completely closed. The door that wasn't completely shut was opened enough that it was noticeable but closed just enough that we couldn't see what might be in the room besides sunlight.

/Careful, there might be traps everywhere./ I told Jake and Anjinnl as we slowly headed to slightly open door.

We reached the door with an ease that I didn't like at all. If I hadn't suspected Rain Forester of being a Yeerk I would think that we were invited here.

/Get off./ I whispered to Marco and quickly demorphed. Once I was myself I nodded to Marco who pushed the door open all the way. The room was made of windows in steel frames allowing sunlight to fill the room. Plants and easels with canvases were in different places and two cages held the unconscious forms of both Rachel and Aximili. At a small desk just off to the side sat Rain Forester looking neither frightened nor angry to see us. Without warning she smiled; a caricature of a friendly smile and one that made my stomachs twist in dread.

"Welcome to my home Prince Arbron-Bantec-Deromar. I must say that I wasn't expecting you and your fellow spies to pay me a visit but at least we now know that the site worked in catching the attention of Andalites." Rain Forester spoke with a peculiar accent leading me to suspect that if she was a Yeerk then it was used to speaking Galard instead of English but then wouldn't the Yeerk have Rain Forester's knowledge on how to speak?

/What do you want Yeerk?/ I demanded.

"Another Andalite," she answered simply.

/Who?/ I pressed; we needed to know what the Yeerks were planning and a little surprised, I wasn't aware that there were other Andalites on Earth.

Rain just smiled.

"I haven't reported this incident to Visser Three yet so why don't you take the two I have here and leave." She said in an almost bored tone and started to read some of the papers on her desk.

I gestured to Marco to go over to the cages and open them. Carefully he removed both Aximili and Rachel's unconscious forms.

"Maybe I will tell you some more information." Rain said allowed as Marco gently dragged Rachel and Aximili to where Jake, Anjinnl and I were standing.

/What changed your mind?/ I queried.

"Maybe you will unintentionally help us find who we are looking for." She answered flatly.

/If you think I would help you Yeerks find one of my people you are mistaken./ I told her curtly.

Rain made a gesture of indifference.

"Almost a year ago certain gadgets disappeared from some of our strongholds on this planet. A lengthy search for the gadgets have us still perplexed since only a dozen or so individuals knew that we had those gadgets stored there and a few months after that a heavily damaged Bug Fighter had been pillaged before it could be traced and taken care of. Whoever found the Bug Fighter was careful not to leave any traces of themselves but knew enough to disable security and tracking features on certain parts. The gadgets and other parts lead us to believe that there is an Andalite somewhere in the area no doubt listening in on our transmissions since that is the only way they could have learned certain details. I am just one of many hoping to lure him out and possibly capture him." She answered.

/Prince Arbron, I think Rain Forester is a morph!/ Anjinnl informed me suddenly.

I couldn't hide my surprise as I jerked to face Anjinnl.

/Are you sure?/ I nearly demanded.

/No, but how she speaks like she's careful about every word she pronounces and her body language is that of an Andalite./ Anjinnl responded.

I thought back on it and looked at the complete and incomplete paintings and thought back on the ones we had seen on display. Rain Forester was a morph.

/There is no need to alert the Visser because you _are_ the Visser./ I announced loudly; causing everyone to tense in fear.

Rain Forester suddenly burst into laughter.

"What makes you think I am the Visser?" she asked looking truly amused. "Didn't your spies in training report back to you what Alloran revealed to them in their misguided and failed assassination attempt?"

/They told me that he told them that you were infiltrating the home world or at least attempting to./ I informed her.

"We are slowly invading Nyumbani and my host was captured on a silent raid." Rain told me with a smile. "And one day we will invade outright."

I felt fear.

/Arbron, there's a large car heading towards Ms. Forester's house!/ Tobias called out in warning.

/Prince Arbron?/ Aximili asked softly as he began to wake up.

/Demorph!/ I snapped at him as I snatched Rachel's still unconscious eagle morph from the floor. /Retreat!/ I ordered everyone else.

Slowly I backed away from the Rain or whatever her name is making sure that everyone else was behind me.

/Run for the woods!/ I ordered them as we retraced our steps.

We hurried away from the house as I absorbed what Rain had said. That there was another Andalite on Earth; most likely not far from here and that the Yeerks were looking for them.

For the first time since the Pool Ship I felt hope that Elfangor was alive.

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I will be skipping several books again but like I have in the past I will give a brief overview of what happened.


End file.
